Manchester United 1 Wolves 1
Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw by Wolverhampton Wanderers at Old Trafford in our final game of the calendar year.
Joshua Zirkzee opened the scoring in a well-fought first-half, benefitting from a deflection off Ladislav Krejci, but the Wolves defender righted his wrongs on the stroke of half-time, nodding home an equaliser after the Reds failed to clear a corner.
United looked to have sealed all three points at the death through a Patrick Chinazaekpere Dorgu strike, but the 21-year-old was ruled offside, after an agonising VAR check, meaning Ruben Amorim's side were forced to settle for a point against the bottom club.
FIRST HALF – TOUGH BATTLE
There was just one change from our last outing here just a few days ago, with the injured Mason Mount making way for Zirkzee, starting our final game of the calendar year in one of the spots behind Benjamin Sesko.
There was also a slight tweak to our set-up, with Amorim seemingly reverting back to his favoured back-three system, with Dorgu reprising his left wing-back berth after a strong performance at right-wing against the Magpies.
A Luke Shaw corner delivery aside, there was little in the way of goalmouth action at either end.
That was, until Sesko latched onto a Dorgu pass, which the Slovenian managed to work back into a central position by himself to find a shooting angle, but the effort flashed inches wide, to strong encouragement from the Old Trafford crowd.
The game settled back into a calmer rhythm shortly after that spark, with Wolves defending deep when without the ball, proving difficult to break down with the Reds resorting to playing around the back in search of an opening.
But that break finally came as a result of a brave run from Ayden Heaven, who dispossessed Hwang Hee-chan high up the pitch and bounded forward, eventually finding Zirkzee.
The Dutchman was surrounded by the blue shirts of the visitors but, after a short scramble, managed to find an gap to shoot into, with the effort taking a fortunate deflection on its way past Jose Sa which wrong-footed the keeper and allowed the ball to drift into the back of the net.
It was our no.11 who worked the opportunity, however, and it was dispatched on target, so it was Zirkzee who rightly claimed the goal ran off towards the Reds in the stands to celebrate.
The first half had not been the prettiest to this point but, naturally, the game began to open up slightly following the goal, with Dorgu accelerating towards the Wolves box and thundering an effort towards Sa’s far post, with a defender managing to get enough on it to send it behind.
Shaw delivered the corner directly to Sesko’s head, but the centre-forward could only find the post before the visitors cleared the danger.
Rob Edwards’s side did ask a few questions of their own. Hugo Bueno forced a lightning quick reaction out of Senne Lammens, the Belgian protecting our clean sheet with his outstretched leg from close distance, but the 23-year-old could do nothing about a Krejci header moments later, the Czech Republic international notching an equaliser on the stroke of half-time by netting with a header, after Zirkzee's misdirected an attempted clearance from a corner.
There was plenty of work for Ruben Amorim’s men to do in the second half.
SECOND HALF – NO WAY THROUGH
After Academy product Jack Fletcher replaced Zirkzee at the interval, the game got under way with much more energy than the first, beginning with Sesko putting the frighteners on Sa with his head from close range, although he was later judged offside.
The visitors were trying to frustrate from the off, having pulled a goal back in the first half, but the referee was keen to stamp this out, awarding the Reds a corner after Sa took too long with a restart.
Minutes after that, Wolves were almost the authors of their own downfall through a mix-up between Yerson Mosquera and his goalkeeper, the defender nodding it back towards his own goal and only being saved by a scrambling Sa, hooking the ball out before it crossed the line, with the technology confirming this was the case.
United were undoubtedly on top, but the alarm was raised just past the hour mark, when Lammens somehow did enough to deny both Krejci and Mosquera in quick succession around the six-yard box.
The Reds regained some semblance of control following that scare, as Bendito Mantato replaced Manuel Ugarte to become our 257th Academy graduate, with Leny Yoro also introduced for Heaven.
As the referee's full-time whistle neared, however, it seemed increasingly as though there was going to be no way through the stubborn Wolves defence.
The mood changed as it looked to be a signature last-gasp win in M16, when Dorgu had the ball in the back of the net as the clock ticked over to 90 but, crushingly, a VAR review confirmed the Dane to be in an offside position.
It was to be United's final big chance of the game, with the match ending level, and Amorim's side unable to take any more than a point to sign off for 2025 on a hugely frustrating note.
MATCH DETAILS
United: Lammens; Heaven (Yoro 75), Martinez (c), Shaw; Dalot, Casemiro, Ugarte (Mantato 75), Dorgu; Zirkzee (J. Fletcher 46), Cunha; Sesko.
Subs not used: Bayindir, Fredricson, Malacia, T. Fletcher, Lacey, Obi.
Goals: Zirkzee 27.
Wolves: Sa; Doherty, Mosquera, Krejci; Tchatchoua, Arias (Wolfe 90+5), Gomes, Bueno; Mane, Arokodare (Strand Larsen 65); Hwang (Lopez 88).
Subs not used: Johnstone, Hoever, Ojinnaka, Olagunju, Sutherland, Gonzalez.
Booked: Tchatchoua, Strand Larsen.
Goals: Krejci 45.