U21s: United v Sparta Prague

The afternoon opened up on a positive note when Ethan Wheatley was teed up by James Scanlon for the first goal of the game.

Picking the ball up on the halfway line, the pair exchanged a quick one-two before Wheatley sprinted away from the Sparta defence. Opposition goalkeeper Jesse Joeri Heerkens rushed out to meet our forward once he'd entered the box, allowing the striker to neatly chip the ball over his head and into the back of the net.

That scoreline held for the next half-hour, until Sparta's Hynek Hruska levelled the game in the 38th minute with a close-range finish inside a packed six-yard box, assisted by team-mate Radek Siler.

Buoyed by that equaliser, the visitors pressed high and intensely from kick-off, seizing the possession once more just seconds after the referee's whistle, scoring their second from almost exactly the same spot as the first, this time poked home by Siler himself.

Wheatley went close again from the next restart, but Heerkens' resulting goal-kick got Sparta back up the field again to seal a third goal in about as many minutes, making their pressure pay shortly before the interval.

That flurry of goals from the visitors prompted changes in the second half, with Travis Binnion calling to his bench on five occasions to give the likes of Ethan Ennis, Malachi Sharpe and Chido Obi a run-out.

Sadly, the reinforcements were unable to breach the Sparta defences again, the scoreline holding for the remainder of the game, meaning our opponents left with all three points on the day.

Next up, our Under-19s are in action at Old Trafford next Tuesday, 10 December (19:00 GMT) against AZ Alkmaar — you can still buy tickets for the clash here.

MATCH DETAILS

United: Graczyk; Fredricson (Munro 46), Kukonki (Obi 75), Kingdon; Missin, T. Fletcher (Devaney 75), Gore, Murray; Scanlon (Sharpe 63), Wheatley, Williams (Ennis 63).

Unused subs: Murdock, McAllister.

Goals: Wheatley 8 | Hruska 38,40 Siler 38.