UNITED RES 1 (Ovington 50), GRIMSBY RES 2 (Jarman 26, Boshell pen 38)

United's young reserve side went down 2-1 to Grimsby Town Reserves at Elland Road last night despite controlling long periods of the game and causing the Mariners plenty of problems.

Chris Ovington went close to scoring in the first minute of the game with an effort from the edge of the area while Gavin Rothery and Tom Elliott both had shots on target in the first session.

Despite United's display of attacking football, they found themselves two goals down by half time. Nathan Jarman curled home from 18 yards on 26 minutes before Danny Boshell fired home a disputed penalty seven minutes before the break.

United responded well in the second half, Oliver Hotchkiss scoring in the 50th minute with a shot into the bottom right hand corner from 20 yards.

As United continued to push for the equaliser Fabian Delph, Ross Wilkinson and Chris Fisher went close to scoring in the final stages of the game.

Reserve team boss Neil Thompson felt his side had more than matched a more experienced Grimsby side in the first half. It was physical and they got after and while we were okay I thought we sometimes overindulged on the ball, wanted too many touches and got caught in possession," he said.

"But I thought we totally dominated the game in the second half and we should at have least got something out of the game. We were the better team by a stretch at times," he added.

United reserves: Lund, Darville, Fisher, Hotchkiss, Grace, Wilkinson, Rothery, Cartman, Elliott (Jerome 88min), Ovington, Delph. Subs not used: Milne, Faulkingham, Mycoe, Hatfield.