Mame Biram Diouf has got his Man United career off to a fantastic start. First he bagged himself a goal during his debut at Old Trafford whilst playing for the first team. Last night he got himself a hat trick whilst playing for Man United’s reserve team.

Unfortunately for the 22-year old he had to be replaced after picking up a slight injury but he has earned praise from reserve team coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

"Diouf is a young lad and he will get his chances but he is one that we have brought in for the future," Solskjaer told Telegraph Sport.
"He is a different kind of player to what we have up front. Of course, when you sign players you hope that they are going to establish themselves as first team players.
"He has fantastic potential. He is a fantastic athlete and he has a fantastic attitude plus he is a good finisher as you saw here tonight so we are very pleased for far with the start that he has made."

"I don't think I need to give him any advice because I have already got to know him a bit. I have seen him in Norway and I have spoken to him a bit and he is very down to earth and he knows what he wants." 

During Man United’s 4-0 victory over Sunderland’s reserves, Federico Macheda made his comeback from injury and Ben Foster kept a clean sheet in goal.

"It is very pleasing that he [Macheda] has come back," Solskjaer said. "He has been out for a very long time which has been difficult for him and now is the time for him to kick on and keep working hard.
"He got 20 minutes under his belt and I know it is only reserve team football but that is important to him." 

"Ben made three magnificent saves - two in the second half, one in the first. He has always been a good shot-stopper but he is maturing all the time in his overall play. His understanding of when to quicken it up and his cross-taking- everything has improved a lot."

Last night Man United reserves played Bury reserves in the Manchester Senior Cup. United made a fantastic start on the journey to retaining the cup.


Man United’s first goal came from a Ritchie de Laet run, he then set-up Oliver Norwood who got the ball to Sam Hewson who put the ball into the back of the net.


Not long after the first goal, Man United had their second. Man United were handed a penalty, Federico Macheda stepped up and he scored.


United weren’t finished there, Macheda ran down the left hand side, he crossed the ball in to Cameron Stewart and Stewart scored Man United’s third goal.


Man United went into halftime 3-0 up and United goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler had basically nothing to do.


Second half and Man United were still looking to score more and more goals. Magnus Eikrem’s ball got to Stewart who crossed the ball into to Macheda; he headed the ball into the back of the net to give United a 4-0 lead.


Macheda was now on his hatrick and he had a few great chances to get his third goal but unfortunately he didn’t.


The final goal came when Stewart crossed the ball in, Joe Dudgeon headed the ball across the goal and Scott Moffatt knocked the ball in.


Man United goalie Zieler didn’t have much to do throughout the game, United will have tougher tests as the competition goes on but it was a good performance by United and we have some great stars coming through the ranks.

Yesterday evening Man United reserves were in action in the final of the Lancashire Senior Cup, beating Bolton Wanderers reserves 1-0. Kiko Macheda (who has played a bit for the first team) hit a very late winning goal, which meant that Man United had retained the cup.

A very tight match between two teams who have a good reserve team looked like it was going to go to penalties but with only four minutes left, Macheda scored the one and only goal.

There weren’t that many chances throughout the match. The first notable chance came in the 22nd minute when Bolton’s midfielder Mark Davies’ powerful shot had to bring out a great save by United’s Ben Amos.

United also had a couple of shots at goal, Magnus Eikrem and Zoran Tosic both tried to put United 1-0 up.
Bolton nearly went a goal up just before half time, Mustapha Riga just managed to get ahead of United’s James Chester but Amos was aware of it and he ran off the line and managed to beat Riga to the ball.

Second half and it was Bolton who had the first chance. Davies scuffed his shot, which just went past Amos’ post. It wasn’t all Bolton though; it was a very tight game.

A worrying moment came during the second half when Tosic had to be brought off with a twisted ankle- hopefully it isn’t serious. Josh King was brought on for Tosic and he was testing the Bolton defence straight away.

Bolton had a claim for a penalty when Corry Evans had a strike hit him on the hand at point blank range, the referee turned down the appeals.

Bolton’s Riga gave away a free kick four minutes from the end when he needlessly went in high on United’s Cameron Stewart. United won the match from the resulting free kick, which Eikrem took, and Macheda scored.

Macheda got to Eikrem’s free kick but his header hit the crossbar but he was there to header in the rebound.

The game finished 1-0 and Man United’s reserves are looking good, one or two have already made it into the first team and I am sure that more will.

This season I am going to try my best to post more about Man United’s reserves. They may be the reserve team but they are still part of Man United and that is what I am (and you should be) interested in, assuming you are a Manchester United fan.

What better place is there to start than the Lancashire Senior Cup Final, which is tonight. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team have got to the final and we will be playing Bolton Wanderers at Leyland’s County Ground.

The starting XI has been revealed and there are one or two names, which some non Man United fans might recognise.

In goal we have Ben Amos. The defenders are James Chester (captain), Corry Evans, Craig Cathcart and Joe Dudgeon.
Cameron Stewart, Magnus Eikrem, Matty James and Zoran Tosic are the midfielders.
Federico Macheda and Danny Welbeck will both start up front for the Red Devils.

The bench consists of David Gray, Ron-Robert Zieler, Oliver Norwood, Sam Hewson and Josh King.

Good luck to the lads and I will let you know what went on tomorrow. If you want to watch the game and you have MUTV, then you can. It kicks off at 18:00 GMT.


If you want to find out more about the players you can always go to the player profile pages.

Three youngsters have today put pen to paper and signed professional contracts with Man United. Yesterday Matthew James, Scott Wootton and Oliver Gill signed the contracts.

Matthew James-
James is 17 years old and last season he made 14 appearances for Man United's academy, scoring six goals. He also made 22 appearances for the reserves, scoring four goals.

Scott Wootton-
Wootton is also 17 years old and he is a defender. Last season he made 27 appearances for Man United's academy, scoring two goals. He also made four appearances for the reserves, scoring no goals.

Oliver Gill-
Gill is 18 years old and he is also a defender. Last season Gill made 18 appearances for Man United's academy, scoring no goals. He also made 13 appearances for the reserves, scoring four goals.


Congratulations to all three players.

Congratulations to Manchester United’s reserves who have retained the Manchester Senior Cup yesterday after beating Bolton 1-0 at the Reebok Stadium.

The only goal came early on in the first half when Zoran Tosic put Man United 1-0 up after his freekick was deflected into the back of the net.

Lee Martin thought he had put United 2-0 up after he raced onto Macheda’s pass and slotted the ball through the keepers legs but it was ruled out for offside.

Manchester United were the better team for most of the match but a 1-0 scoreline is only a slender lead which can be changed in a matter of seconds. United goalie Ben Amos did have to make some great saves.

Man United Team: Amos, Eckersley, C.Evans, De Laet, James, Tosic, Drinkwater, Possebon, Martin, Welbeck and Macheda.
Subs: Stewart, Eikrem, Gill, Devlin and Dudgeon.

Manchester United reserves played Rochdale for the right to go into the semi-finals of the Lancashire Senior Cup, defender Fabio da Silva bagged himself three goals (and he missed a penalty).

Rochdale went 1-0 up with a goal from Joe Reidy's but Fabio's three goals and Welbeck's goal got Man United reserves into the semi's.

Surely Fabio will get into the first team sooner or later.

United team: Zieler; Eckersley, C Evans, Gill, Derbyshire; Eikrem, Possebon, Bryan, Fabio; Welbeck, Macheda.

Congratulations to the youngsters and the best of luck for the next round.

Captain Gary Neville returned last night (again) when he played for the Manchester United reserves against Liverpool reserves. United lost 2-0 but Neville did play for a whole 60 minutes, hopefully he didnt pick up another injury, it would be great to see him return to the first team.
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Anyway, the match, Xavi Alonso (pen) and Harry Kewell scored for Liverpool. United did have two goals written off though so it wasnt one sided. Eagles had a good chance but the goalie managed to tip the ball over the bar.
There was a crowd of 10,546 in the Halliwell Jones Stadium, which was bigger than the match at Preston last night.
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Neville is expected to return to first team action soon but will he get straight into the first team? Brown is playing well but he is also expected to leave us in the summer. So when Neville is fit for the first team, who will start? Brown or Neville?



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