Man United U21 0-1 Fulham U21

Fulham Under-21s kept the pressure on at the top of PL2 with an impressive 1-0 victory away at Manchester United.

It was a goal from Callum Osmand, returning to the side from suspension, which proved the difference, as we ended United’s five-game winning streak.

The first 15 minutes were played almost exclusively in our defensive half, but United struggled to create clear cut chances, with Victor Musa only able to fire the ball at Eddy Nsasi’s legs with the hosts’ best early opportunity.

Hayden Mullins’ side sprung into life when Lemar Gordon led a quick break, spraying the ball wide to Terrell Works, who saw a curling effort gathered by Will Murdock.

Gordon almost squeezed the ball into the near corner via a wicked deflection when attempting a cross, while United defender Reece Munro would have had his heart in his mouth when his header almost dropped into his own net.

Playing out from the back nearly had disastrous consequences for Nsasi and Chibby Nwoko, but Michael Allen was well positioned to hold onto James Scanlon’s ambitious strike.

On 35 minutes, Osmand almost added another beauty to a catalogue of stunning individual goals from this season. Latching onto a long ball from Samuel Amissah, Osmand easily beat Munro for pace, cut inside onto his left foot, but dragged a shot wide when he had the goal in his sights.

An Osmand cutback almost created a goal soon after, but Murdock was down low to get a strong hand to Chris Donnell’s well-struck shot.

A Fulham goal was always likely to come through Osmand, and he got himself on the scoresheet 10 minutes into the second period, with a driven finish past Murdock.

Unselfish play from Osmand presented Donnell with a golden opportunity to double our lead just nine minutes later, but the skipper’s touch was heavy and Murdock was able to gather the ball at his feet.

Ollie Gofford was constantly rampaging forward from his right-back position, flashing a shot wide from 18 yards, before setting up Works for a tap in, only for the assistant referee to chalk the goal off for offside.

With just the one goal in it, a barrage of United pressure was expected, but it never really arrived. Allen dealt well with a fierce Jaydan Kamason effort, a strike that he wouldn’t have seen until late due to a Bradley De Jesus deflection.

Our Young Whites could have extended the lead late on, but substitute Tom Olyott had another goal ruled out, before Osmand dragged wide when one-on-one with the United goalkeeper.

Our U21s are next in action on Friday evening, with Everton visiting Motspur Park, 7pm kick-off.