Our Under-21s suffered a 2-0 defeat at home to Crewe Alexandra on Monday afternoon.

Goals either side of half-time from striker Callum Saunders saw the visitors claim the three points at Thorp Arch, despite numerous chances for United to take something from the game.

Saunders opened the scoring on the half-hour mark after some scrappy early exchanges in testing conditions, tucking the rebound home after his initial penalty was pushed away by Bailey Peacock-Farrell.

Luke Parkin, Frank Mulhern and Ronaldo Vieira all threatened for United before the interval, while Peacock-Farrell denied Saunders a second with a smart low save.

But Saunders was able to find the net again on 53 minutes, firing into the bottom corner after working his way into the area.

Paul Hart introduced striking duo Lewis Walters and Mallik Wilks in a bid to find a way back into the contest, and the latter fired agonisingly wide within minutes of stepping off the bench.

It was becoming an increasingly busy afternoon for Crewe ‘keeper Kieran Harrison, who clawed away a downwards header from Eoghan Stokes before rushing off his line to thwart Walters after the substitute had been slotted through on goal.

Harrison was then at full stretch to beat away powerful strikes from Alex Purver and Wilks, but there proved to be no way through for the hosts on a wet and windy afternoon at Thorp Arch.

Hart said: “I think we’ve had the most shots in one game that we’ve had all season. How we didn’t score I’ll never know.

“We conceded two poor goals but we should have buried about four or five I thought. They cleared the ball off the line and the keeper was fantastic.

“But we’ve got to say to ourselves that our finishing was pretty poor.”

Under-21s team vs Crewe Alexandra: Peacock-Farrell, Coyle, Vann, Skelton, Denton, Vieira (Lyman 75), Purver, Stokes, McDaid (Wilks 55), Mulhern, Parkin (Walters 55). Sub not used: Grimes.