Manchester United Under-21s kicked off their Premier League International Cup campaign on Friday night, hosting AS Monaco B at Leigh Sports Village.

Adam Lawrence’s side was bolstered by Harry Amass, who dropped down from the first team in search of playing time, having been afforded just 29 minutes with the first team so far this season.

First half

The night got off to a rough start for United when a howler from Cameron Byrne-Hughes saw the goalkeeper drop an easy save through his legs and into the goal, gifting Monaco an early lead just three minutes into the match.

Ten minutes later, Byrne-Hughes made up for his mistake with a monstrous save to deny Aymen Assab after the French youth international skipped between Jaydan Kamason and Dan Armer.

Another mistake at the back gave Monaco their second goal in the 13th minute, when poor marking from a set piece allowed 6 ft 8 in Sirak Bein to head home under little pressure.

United found their feet as the match went on and exerted control in the midfield battle, but struggled to create much in the final third, limited to half-chances like Jack Fletcher’s free kick delivery which caused an awkward save by the goalkeeper.

Second half

Early in the second half, Anis Soubeir cut inside and glided past Reece Munro, but Armer was quick across the backline to make the block on the Moroccan winger.

A goalkeeper blunder kept United in the match shortly after, when Jim Thwaites‘ corner spilled through the hands of Jules Stawiecki, hitting the goalkeeper in the face before falling into the goal.

On the hour mark, Byrne-Hughes made another impressive reflex save after Kamason’s last-ditch tackle ricocheted back towards goal.

There was nothing Byrne-Hughes could do three minutes later, though, when Yannick Dodo smashed the ball off the right post and in to make it 1-3.

Jack Fletcher looked to cut open Monaco with a clever turn, but without a natural striker on the pitch, United had little presence in the box throughout the match to feed into.

Enzo Kana-Biyik came off the bench late on and provided such a figure, testing the goalkeeper with a flicked-on header from Jack Fletcher’s corner delivery. Into stoppage time, another corner delivery, this time from Thwaites, found Kana-Biyik at the near post to flick on again, and this time the goalkeeper could not get a strong enough hand to it to keep it out.

But it was ultimately too little, too late for United to get a result, with the final whistle coming at 2-3. United return to Premier League 2 action next weekend, away to Burnley.

Match facts

United: Byrne-Hughes, Kamason, Munro, Armer, Amass, T. Fletcher, Thwaites, J. Fletcher (c), Mantato (Missin 75), Ibragimov (Kana-Biyik 81), Thompson.

Unused subs: Heath, Helafu, McCormack, Leon, Orozco.

Goals: Stawiecki (own goal) 53, Kana-Biyik 90+4.

Feature image David Lidstrom via Getty Images