Man Utd 1 Wrexham 3: Inexperienced Red Devils outmuscled and booed in physical battle as Dan Gore gets sent off
UNRECOGNISABLE, BOOED and beaten.
This was not the night that the Manchester United brand thrilled San Diego.
Quite what a stadium record 34,248 thought when the team was read out is open to conjecture.
The green and white second strip won’t be flying off the shelves either.
Who thought that one up?
The fact that the name ‘Jonny Evans’ got the biggest cheer tells you everything about the line-up.
The rest had everyone reaching for Wikipedia.
This fixture was announced in March which had fans over here rushing to shell out in the region of 150 dollars for tickets to see their heroes like Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes.
Then the fixture against Real Madrid was revealed in May to be played the following day in Houston.
That meant a largely under-21 team would be playing here against a strong Wrexham side just as the first team was flying out to face the Spanish giant.
The fans certainly will at least remember the name Nathan Bishop.
The 23-year-old goalkeeper took out Wrexham star man Paul Mullin with a first-half challenge that would have got a red card in the Premier League.
Mullin left the field with an oxygen mask on having suffered a punctured lung and Bishop was booed loudly for the rest of the half until he was subbed at the break.
The announcer had to make that change clear after the break as sub goalkeeper Radek Vitek was copping for it.
The crowd were behind the second division side from the moment of Bishop’s fouled that got just a yellow on and cheered as they took the lead on 29 minutes when Elliot Lee turned the ball home from close range.
Father Rob of Newcastle United fame will have been celebrating.
The second arrived on 36 minutes.
Ben Tozer’s long throw was flicked on by Aaron Hayden and Max Cleworth headed home at the back post.
United did get one back in first-half injury time through Marc Jurado’s side-footed volley finish.
Things got worse for the Red Devils, however, just two minutes after the break when captain on the night Dan Gore got a straight red card for a reckless challenges on Andy Cannon.
For a pre-season game, ‘friendly’ was not the word.
Wrexham increased their lead in the 69th minute through a diving header at the far post from Sam Malby who met Jacob Mendy’s fine cross.
That was that.
The United players did a lap of thanks a couple of minutes after the final whistle.
The Stadium was very much empty by then.