01/08/2017 21:17, Report by Cliff Butler

Pre-season friendly | Sportsdirect.com Park | Scorer: Gribbin 77

A late goal from Callum Gribbin was enough to give Manchester United’s Under-23s a narrow win over fourth-tier Oldham Athletic on Tuesday evening.

Games with a single goal can often suffer from a shortage of action and excitement, but that most definitely wasn’t the case with this encounter. It was  a thoroughly enjoyable contest that could easily have ended with both sides having found the net on a number of occasions.

The two teams had to dodge the sprinklers as they went through their warm-up sequences in preparation for the kick-off. It was nice to see James Wilson back in a United shirt following last season’s loan spell at Derby County, which came to an abrupt end when he suffered a serious knee injury.

United have met Oldham many times at Reserves level over the years with clubs meeting regularly in the Senior Cup competitions of both Manchester and Lancashire.

This was the under-23’s second pre-season game to be played against a side from a neighbouring borough in Greater Manchester, following the 2-2 draw against Salford City almost two weeks ago.

United’s starting line-up was similar to the one that came from two goals down in that game, while Oldham’s selection was largely the one that will be on duty this coming Saturday when they start their League One programme with a home fixture against Oxford United.

It was a pleasant and warm evening at the SportsDirect.com Park, or more traditionally Boundary Park, with bright sunshine casting considerable shadows across the pitch as the game began with a decent turn-out thronging three of the four stands.

United started the game attacking the Chadderton or ‘Chaddy’ End which, in bygone days, was home to Oldham’s most partisan supporters. On this occasion, the noisiest of the home fans were located in the main stand, where they kept up a constant chant backed by a wildly enthusiastic drummer.

The hosts were the first to threaten, when, in the fifth minute, United keeper Kieran O’Hara had to be alert to prevent Craig Davies from opening the scoring with a strong header.

United, wearing black shirts, started the game brightly and were close to moving into the lead after eight minutes when Ethan Hamilton unleashed a fierce drive that Oldham’s keeper, on  trial from Cardiff City, did well to push over the bar.    

Those early minutes of the game certainly set the tone for the rest of the first half as both teams put the emphasis firmly on the offensive. Oldham, it has to be said, had the better of the chances but their inaccuracy proved costly in front of goal.

The home side made a raft of changes for the second half, while United sent on Matthew Olosunde for Wilson. The young striker had done well during the opening half and his no show after the break was surely just a precautionary move by the coaching staff.

A quarter of an hour into the second half still produced no goals, but it certainly wasn’t for the lack of trying at both ends.  Shooting was certainly a feature of this game with the players seemingly willing to let fly from all manner of angles and distances. Gribbin went narrowly wide for United just moments after Mason Fawns had almost squeezed the ball past O’Hara.

Then, in the 77th minute, the goal that had looked on the cards for most of the evening finally arrived. Gribbin was the scorer, who found the net with a beautiful left-foot shot after easing himself into space. 

Oldham continued to introduce more substitutes in an attempt to find the formula that could bring them a goal as the game moved towards its close but United closed out a narrow victory.

United: O’Hara; Riley (Buffonge 52), Williams (Warren 64), Borthwick-Jackson, Mitchell; Kehinde, Willock, Hamilton, Dearnley; Gribbin (Scott 80); Wilson (Olosunde 46). Sub not used: Richardson.