Ten men fall short at Old Trafford

Playing for over an hour with 10 men proved too much of an uphill task at Old Trafford as we suffered a 2-0 defeat to Manchester United on Saturday lunchtime.

Having started well, we found ourselves on the back foot after captain Cristian Romero was shown a straight red card for his 29th-minute challenge on Casemiro and the Red Devils duly took advantage to register their first win against us in nine attempts.

Bryan Mbeumo slid home following a short corner routine seven minutes before half-time, but we stayed very much in the game – thanks in part to a string of fine saves from Guglielmo Vicario – and it was only a late goal from Bruno Fernandes that finally killed us off.

The second period also saw the debut of Souza, signed last month from Brazilian side Santos, following an injury to Destiny Udogie at left-back.

We made three changes from the home draw with United’s rivals Manchester City last weekend and after the first of many good stops from Vicario to deny Casemiro from distance, we almost found the lead when Xavi Simons clipped the ball into the right channel for Conor Gallagher, but his well-worked first-time shot was easy for Senne Lammens.

Udogie’s dangerous cut-back a few moments later went through the legs of Micky van de Ven – back in the side after a minor injury – and almost fell for Dominic Solanke in the box, but he couldn’t get his shot away under pressure from Lisandro Martinez.

Matheus Cunha and Bernandes fired wide for United, who were willingly taking shots from distance, but the game changed just before the half-hour mark when Romero caught Casemiro after trying to drive out from the back with the ball at his feet and was given his marching orders.

Another Fernandes strike from distance looped wide off van de Ven and from the United skipper’s resulting short corner, Kobbie Mainoo teed up the unmarked Mbeumo to slide a left-footed shot through a crowded box and inside the far post to give the hosts the advantage. Vicario subsequently tipped Casemiro’s header onto the crossbar and dived bravely at the feet of Amad Diallo to keep us within touching distance going in at the break.

Diallo had a goal ruled out for offside early in the second period before a further blow for us with the loss of Udogie, who limped off less than 10 minutes after the restart. Xavi went close with a good strike from distance on his left foot that whistled just past the post, but in truth it was at the other end where most of the action was happening, Vicario denying Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot within a minute of each other before Shaw’s shot was blocked in the box by van de Ven in the wake of a half-cleared set-piece.

The offside flag was already up by the time Cunha had the ball in the net for United mid-way through the second period, while Vicario blocked Diallo’s angled drive at the near post before the killer second goal arrived nine minutes from time, Fernandes arriving onto Dalot’s sweeping delivery at the back post and guiding the ball home off his shin. Mbeumo went close again for United as we struggled to muster a response, our four-game unbeaten run in all competitions coming to an end.

Match data

Goals: Manchester United – Mbeumo 38, Fernandes 81.

Yellow cards: Manchester United – Diallo 45; Spurs – Udogie 27, Palhinha 70.

Red card: Spurs – Romero 29.

Referee: Michael Oliver.

Venue: Old Trafford.

Weather: Light rain, light winds, nine degrees.

Attendance: 73,985.