Manchester United oozed the quality, despite being a reserve side they were better than previous Premiership sides to visit - such as Everton. Alan Smith was the man who ran the game and it was a sheer delight watching him at work, no matter how you feel about him and his attitude, he was a class act. He regularly went from the heart of the attack to the heart of the defence, and his ball control was what you'd expect from a £7million player.
Smith bagged the first goal. It was a classy finish, when he tried to chip Ben Williams his shot bounced off the top of the cross bar. The ball finally fell to him via Saha, somehow totally unmarked in front of the defence, and from the edge of the area he rolled it into the bottom left corner.
Before hand Smith had fired a shot onto the post from 30 yards and Louis Saha fired a freekick just high and wide.
Manchester United's passing and movement was obviously the class above anything we've seen in years. For long periods they stroked the ball around as the likes of Cochrane and Lunt chased forever but only when Man Utd really pushed on wards did they lose possession.
Not saying we were completely out done though. We rattled United at time. We created our own passing moves that split Brown and O'Shea. Balls behind the United defence were just that one yard too fast for Jones or Ashton to get to before Tim fuck Howard.
Dean Ashton, who was back from injury and back to his best, gave Howard the first bit of trouble not long after the goal. Tonkin and Vaughan worked well down the left, Vaughan pulled the ball back into the penalty area from the by-line to Dean Ashton, unmarked, to shoot on the turn. His shot though was straight at Howard who parried out.
At half time it was 1-0 and everyone was happy enough. We certainly weren't (being) disgraced. Man United's class showed but we dealt with them well. Billy had Saha under wraps. Saha was, to put it lightly, useless. Passes went missing, shots were weak, no flair, no pace and if Dean Ashton is lazy then Saha brings a new definition to 'lazy'.
In the second half, it was much the same. United always looked comfortable but we attacked with just that final shot missing. Steve Jones forced Tim Howard into a parry with his shot from inside the area, Vaughany's shot from 30 yards had Howard down to his left and a wicked deflection, after a shot from Lunt, sent Howard scrambling for the ball. Luckily for him, as he tripped up, the ball squeezed wide.
Just as there was a hope of us getting back on level with them, we went a fluffed in it the space of 60 seconds. Liam Miller received a defence splitting pass from Bellion, inside the area the former Celtic man had all the time in the world to fired past Williams.
Man Utd immediately attacked after kick-off and were soon 3-0 to the good. The pace of their football found Kieran Richardson behind the defence, he fired it across goal. Bellion and Foster were both on the line and some how Foster managed to send a diving header into the back of the net.
After that we tried anything and everything to just get a goal. Neil Sorvel tried a 30+ yard volley, which went well wide, and Billy Jones tried to replicate 'that' goal from Lunt's corner, but he fired it straight into the crowded penalty area. Funnily enough Alan Smith tried to copy that goal as well, but his shot landed firmly on the roof of the net.
Towards the end Ben Williams acrobatically denied Bellion's volley as Manchester United played out the game with long spells of possession. Dario threw the mighty fire power of Andy White, Richard Walker and Mark Rivers at Man United but we just had to concede defeat.
In the end Man Utd were comfortable and deserved winners but we gave a good account of ourselves. We had chances and with better luck, better finishing and a slightly worse keeper than Tim Howard we may have got something from the game. But as Dario says the big one is on Friday. Be there if you can!
Ben Williams - 7 - A couple of decent saves and one of his better games in a while. However, the damage is done and it looks like Ince is starting on Friday.
Anthony Tonkin - 7 - A lively game from Tonks. Kept fairly cool under pressure but at times had serious communication break downs.
Steve Foster - 7 - Can't actually fault him. Unfortunate own goal but had Bellion in his sight for 90 minutes.
Billy Jones - 7 - Proving it at Premiership level? Apparently injured but had Saha all over the place, won tackle after tackle and covered every inch of the Crewe half.
Jon Otsemobor - 7 - Two bloopers that led to goals according to Dario, I'll take his word for it. Attacked well though.
Neil Sorvel - 7 - Pretty decent from Sorvs. Closed down as much as possible, got tackles in and a few super passes.
Kenny Lunt - 6 - Poor passing all the way through the game. Not as much fight as we saw against Brighton either.
Justin Cochrane - 7 - Got stuck in, as usually, and was intent on winding Alan Smith up.
David Vaughan - 7 - Consistently good without showing any great spark. Really attacking, got a few shots away and was involved in most of our attacks.
Dean Ashton - 8 - Chased everything, gave everything and ran the gave up front. Gave Brown and O'Shea plenty of trouble, but needs to shoot from distance more often, too many times he makes one too many passes.
Steve Jones - 7 - Had chances and his pace gave United trouble but couldn't really shine that much against United.
