Opinion: United's turnout at Bolton was so special
On Tuesday night, exactly one month on from Manchester United’s most recent competitive away fixture, 1,600 travelling Reds turned up in sub-zero temperatures to encourage the Under-21s in their Papa Johns Trophy last-16 match against Bolton Wanderers.
Crunching snow was underfoot outside and even double socks didn’t quite cut it in these conditions. The car’s temperature read -3 Celsius by the time we swung out to make the short journey home towards Manchester.
Big turnout. Big noise. Big 12 Cantonas. pic.twitter.com/9mokmv179k
— Harry Robinson (@HarryRobinson64) December 13, 2022
That being said, news of Argentina’s dominance in that game seemed to seep through as the end picked up chants of La Albiceleste’s name, in honour of Lisandro Martinez.
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That was until a mix-up at the back allowed them to take the lead and then an impressive curling free-kick followed. Certainly, 2-0 would have been a respectable scoreline against a good League One side who showed some real quality, but two late goals conceded left a bitter taste in the mouth. Four-nil. A heavy defeat. Lessons to be learned.
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One great moment in particular stood out for me on Tuesday.
Bjorn Hardley successfully crunched into a challenge on the left wing, 25 metres away from the travelling support.
A thunderous roar of ‘UNI-TED’ followed in recognition, echoing around the empty upper tiers of the ground.
The opinions in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Manchester United Football Club.