Sir Alex Ferguson made six changes to the starting XI who beat Celtic 3-1 a few days ago. Tomasz Kuszczak, John O’Shea, Wes Brown, Tom Cleverley, Federico Macheda and Danny Welbeck were all brought into the starting line-up.
A tough match was decided by the only goal of the game, which came in the 76th minute. It wasn’t the best of games, but some of the younger players got some much-needed time on the field. Welbeck stood out after a very hardworking performance and it would have been nice to see him score.
First half and United made a bright start and could have bagged an early goal after a shot from Obertan but it hit the side netting. Obertan was involved in another move from United not long after but again there was no end product.
Philadelphia had a great chance to take the lead not long after the half hour mark, luckily for United Sebastien Le Toux dragged his shot wide.
Sir Alex Ferguson opted to keep the same XI for the start of the second half, Philadelphia on the other hand made seven immediate substitutions.
There had been no changes to the scoreline so just after the hour mark Sir Alex made five changes. Chris Smalling, Rafael Da Silva, Darren Fletcher, Dimitar Berbatov and Corry Evans (who was making his first team debut) were all brought on for Jonny Evans, Fabio Da Silva, Wes Brown, Paul Scholes and Macheda.
United had a penalty shout turned down a few minutes after the substitutions had been made after a great run from Rafael, the move ended with Obertan ending up on the ground in the area. That was quickly followed by a fantastic save from Kuszczak after a freekick was flicked on towards goal.
The goal came with just under 15 minutes remaining, Welbeck picked up the ball down United’s right, he ran into the area, played the ball in to Obertan, who took a touch and then calmly hit the ball past the keeper. Sir Alex immediately made another substitution after the goal with Ritchie De Laet coming on for O’Shea.
Only minutes after the goal United were so close to scoring a second after Berbatov hit the crossbar, with the ball looking very close to going over the line. It was a tough call and obviously ended with more calls for goal line technology.
United had another penalty claim with a few minutes remaining after Ryan Giggs was blocked off in the penalty area after a one-two with Berbatov.
Philadelphia came very close to grabbing a late equaliser but the ball was smashed over from only a few yards out. The game finished 1-0, not the best of performances but it’s only the second game of pre-season.
