Dunfermline 1 Manchester United XI 5

Manchester United raced into early lead. King (1) 0-1, Ajose (11) 0-2, King (16) 0-3, Possebon (34) 0-4, Kirk (63) 1-4, Keane (85) 1-5.

DUNFERMLINE 1 MANCHESTER UNITED XI 5

MATCH PICTURES
Dunfermline welcomed Manchester United to East End Park for this the team`s third pre season friendly.. Andy Dowie, Paul Willis, Steven McDougall and Gary Mason came into the Pars starting eleven at the expense of Joe Cardle, Neil McGregor, Andy Kirk and Jordan White.  Few teams in Britain achieve as much from youth academies as Manchester United and it was a pleasure to see Ole Gunnar Solksjaer bring such an array of rising stars to East End Park.

Joshua King and Ravel Morrison got the match underway and in just 21 seconds KING stroked the ball past Chris Smith to open the scoring. Nichlos Ajose raced up the right and delivered a simple ball square into the Pars box.  Two defenders collided leaving the 18 year old Norwegian striker an easy execution.

After the early setback Dunfermline found it hard to take the game forward.  The opposition tidied up the through balls, won possession and laced together several good passes.  Willis was wide right to get in a cross over but it was overstruck for the blustery conditions.

United moved out and when captain Magnus Eikrem lofted a ball from the centre circle up the right,  AJOSE ran on and scooped the ball over the advancing keeper from an angle 20 yards out. Five minutes later Eikrem found the hole in the central defence to put KING through and place the ball into the bottom right. 3-0 down after 16 minutes.

Scott Wootton was yellow carded for his late tackle on David Graham in 19 minutes and the man in blue boots required physio Gerry Docherty`s attention.  Morrison was the next to storm through the defence and he got a lucky break that took the took the ball right to Ajose on the edge of the box but he blasted the ball into the McCathie Stand.

Smith held a long distance attempt from Norwood before Graham was forced to retire with Andy Kirk coming on in his place. The Pars first shot at goal in 28 minutes, a well struck effort by McDougall from 23 yards, was deflected wide but Willis`s good delivery was palmed away by Conor Devlin.

Another Pars corner in 32 minutes was pumped in from the right by Willis but Keddie was blown up for climbing on a defender in his attempts to reach the cross. The visitors countered and had spare men as the ball was switched from King through Eikrem to Ajose wide. The ball was cut back to Rodrigo POSSEBON who was successful with a somewhat speculative left footed drive from 30 yards.

Andy Kirk did well at the other end creating a shooting chance out of nothing on the 18 yard line but his shot whizzed just the wrong side of the left upright.  The Pars were denied what would have been a bizarre penalty as the ball bounced up on to Joe Dudgeon`s hand in the box but the referee wasn`t looking.

In 41 minutes Dowie chipped the ball deep wide right for McDougall who laid it back for Woods to cross.  That evaded Willis and Kirk on six yards and Phinn accepted but drove wide into the sidenetting.  Then two minutes later the Dunfermline wall kept out a Eikrem free kick from 25 yards out in a central position.

Half Time: Dunfermline 0 Manchester United XI 4

Both teams made several changes for the second half.  For Dunfermline off went keeper Chris Smth, captain Austin McCann and Steven McDougall to be replaced by Kyle Allison, Chris Higgins and Pat Clarke. Gary Mason took over the captain`s armband. United withdrew Devlin, Norwood, Morrison and King to introduce Sam Johnstone, Cameron Stewart, William Keane and Robert Brady.

The new look Pars immediately made an impact with Willis heading over a Mason cross from the left and then Willis and Bell exchanging passes on the edge of the box in an attempt to break through. Bell headed a 51st minute Willis corner narrowly over the crossbar and next Phinn came close to penetrating the right side of the defence.

Willis sent in a great cross but Johnstone tipped it away from Phinn as Dunfermline kept up the pressure. Phinn had a great chance in 59 minutes but Wootton`s tackle 8 yards out stuck the ball behind for a corner.  Bell came close as the corner was not immediately cleared and Johnstone had to pounce on the loose ball that materialised.

The goal that Dunfermline deserved came from an Andy KIRK free kick in 63 minutes.  The opposition wall was strung out across their penalty box but the Pars striker found the net regardless from 25 yards.  Ryan Thomson replaced Steven Bell.

The game then went to sleep a bit but was rudely interrupted in 83 minutes when a nice ball in from the left by Clarke looked to have set up Phinn but his low drive was pulled across goal and just slipped past the right goalpost. Two minutes later Man U made it 5-1 when Stewart`s pass set up William KEANE.  The young striker placed the shot low in the bottom left leaving Allison  with little hope of stopping it.

Phinn had another good chance from 18 yards but he was just as unlucky as before. At the end Willis thumped over another corner from the right but United headed clear.  In this match of boys against men the Manchester United XI recorded a resounding victory and showed the Fifers how it can be done.