City lose reserve derby

Manchester City 0 Manchester United 1

Monday, March 9th, 2009, 7pm

Ewan Fields, Hyde United.

City: Joe Hart, Curtis Obeng, Ryan McGivern, Ben Mee, Clayton McDonald, Scott Kay, Angelos Tsiaklis (Tom Smith 72), Adam Clayton, David Ball, Karl Moore (James Poole, 63), Donal McDermott.

 

Unused Subs: Matthew Brown, Tobias Johansen, Adrian Cieslewicz. 

United: Ron Robert Zieler, Ritchie de Laet, Robert Brady, Corry Evans, Oliver Gill, Matthew James, Rodrigo Possebon, Daniel Drinkwater, Darron Gibson (Joe Dudgeon, 46), Lee Martin, Zoran Tosic (Oliver Norwood, 70).

Unused Subs: Gary Woods, Cameron Stewart, Daniel Galbraith.

Goals: 0-1 Martin (35).

Bookings:

City: None.

United: Drinkwater.

Referee: C Kavanagh.

The Match

Even the welcome presence of Joe Hart, who was keeping goal for England in the Caribbean just nine months ago, could not swing the balance for the Blues in a rain-soaked mini-derby at Hyde.

Two committed teams fought out a tense first half as Hart, back in action after a spell of bench duty for the first team, organised his defence with loud precision and Ryan McGivern put in the tackles that have earned him full Northern Ireland recognition.

But United fielded four players with first-team experience in the FA or Carling Cups, and there was little between them on a cold, wet night at Ewan Fields as Donal McDermott tested Ron Robert Zieler after cutting in from the left then launched a long-range effort just over the bar.

Hart had a scare on the half-hour when Lee Martin raced through to round the young keeper only to have the “goal” disallowed for offside, but the United striker was more fortunate five minutes later.

Martin took full advantage of a nicely-weighted through ball from highly-rated Brazilian Rodrigo Possebon to go around Hart once again, and this time the goal stood to edge United ahead.

City should have at least pulled level in a more open second half that saw the home side create the chances without being able to take advantage against a resolute United defence.

United’s goal led a charmed life when Karl Moore stole the ball from a visiting defender and set up David Ball for a powerful angled strike that came back off the outside of the post. 

Blues manager Glyn Hodges sent big defender Clayton McDonald into the front line to try to force penalties in the closing stages but he was foiled when United defender Corry Evans cleared his shot off the line.