Ledbury Town 2 Manchester United Res 4
A CAPACITY crowd were treated to some superbly entertaining football and saw Ledbury fight back from three goals down to 3-2 before the Red Devils had the last word.
Reserve team manager Ricky Sbragia fielded a side which included Premiership-experienced Keiron Richardson, Mark Lynch and Danny Pugh, as well as promising Neil Wood, Lee Simms and Callum Flannagan.
United gave full value to the occasion in the memorial match for members of the McCoig-Lees family, fans who tragically died in a motorway accident on their way to Manchester Airport in July, while Ledbury also produced some exciting play.
The game got off to a flying start with Ledbury's ace striker Robbie Colwell hitting a post with a terrific shot after only two minutes and then Town's young goalkeeper Adam Penny was forced to make two superb saves to hold off Richardson and Luke Steele.
But he could do little to stop Richardson putting the Manchester team ahead with a 25-yard free-kick which went in off the bottom of a post.
Duncan Preedy shot over the bar for Ledbury just before half-time and in the second period David Jones extended the visitors' lead.
Lee Clueit, Towan Ravencroft and Nick Welsh performed well for Ledbury under pressure, while the Preedy brothers, Duncan and Phil, were sharp in attack.
Matty Williams made it 3-0 for United before Colwell, who had been off the field for much of the first half after a bad collision, returned and made a superb break for Ledbury before slipping the ball into the net .
He struck a post soon after and then Town skipper Stuart Hall blasted in a 30-yard free-kick to set up a tense finish, decided when Williams scored his second for United.
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