Manchester United u19s hosted Galatasaray on Tuesday afternoon in search of their first points in the UEFA Youth League campaign.
A move from the training ground started off the match as United sent the ball into the right corner of the pitch from the kick-off for Ethan Williams to chase and deliver to Harry Amass at the back post to volley into the ground and hit the side netting.
Ethan Wheatley had a penalty shout early on when drove into the box from the right wing and went down under some very slight contact but the ref waved away his protests.
Galatasaray threatened just before the half-hour mark. James Nolan misjudged the bounce of the ball to allow the Galatasaray winger to the byline to fire across the goal but Elyh Harrison was able to push the ball to safety.
A final chance came for United before the break through a deftly chipped ball over the top from Jack Kingdon for Ethan Wheatley to run onto but the striker couldn’t sort his feet out quick enough to get the shot off.
It remained 0-0 at the break after a largely dull but even opening 45 minutes.
Ten minutes after the restart, Omari Forson burst through the middle of the pitch past a group of Galatasaray players to break into the box but was denied from breaking the deadlock with a top save from Jankat Yilmaz.
United were starting to take control though and the relentless pressure proved too much in the 65th minute when Nolan was tripped in the box to earn a penalty which was calmly dispatched into the bottom corner by Forson.
It was all United in the latter stages and some quality team play down the left wing and into the box ended with a clever rolled pass by Forson to find Ethan Williams to hammer past the keeper to make it 2-0.
Shea Lacey had made a big impact off the bench to assert United’s dominance and he provided the third to put the game to bet with an inch-perfect through ball to take the Galatasaray defenders out of the game and allow Forson to run through and score his second of the day.
The win gave United their first points after a narrow defeat last time out against Bayern Munich. Next up is a doubleheader with a very strong FC Copenhagen side who currently lead the group and are led by Rasmus Hojlund’s younger brother, Emil.
United: Harrison; Nolan, Kingdon, Kambwala, Amass (Missin 56), Fitzgerald (Curley 64), Gore, Forson, Scanlon (Lacey 64), Williams; Wheatley (Musa 88)
Unused subs: Myles, Jackson, McAllister