Under-21s held by United

Honours ended even after a hard-working display from our Under-21s at home to Manchester United on Saturday lunchtime.

Having led early on through Will Lankshear, we suffered a couple of lapses at the back and allowed the Red Devils to turn the game around with two goals in seven minutes, but a clever finish from Jamie Donley in the closing stages of the first half got it back to 2-2 and that's how it stayed at Stevenage's Lamex Stadium.

Indeed, both sides were guilty of some sloppy errors over the course of the contest but while our unchanged team didn't quite hit the heights of Monday's thumping win over Wolves, we still did enough to merit the point gained as we bid to secure top spot in the table before the season enters the play-off phase at the start of next month.

Lankshear had early appeals for a penalty waved away after going to ground under Jack Kingdon's challenge just inside the box, but he didn't have to wait long to get off the mark, flicking on Donley's cross at the front post to Jude Soonsup-Bell and then being on hand to divert the latter's low driven ball into the net from inside the six-yard box in the 16th minute.

United responded inside two minutes, though, as Rio Kyerematen's nod-down at the back saw Dante Cassanova's clearance on the stretch intercepted midway inside our half, with Curley spotting a gap to fire low into the corner from just outside the box. We threatened from a couple of Donley set-pieces but fell behind in the 25th minute when Ethan Williams' low delivery from the right found Biancheri, who planted low inside the near post.

Sam Murray almost found the net with a low shot for United as the first half went on but after Donley's fine effort from Kyerematen's through ball hit the post, we managed to get ourselves back level nine minutes before half-time. It was all a bit chaotic in the box as United goalkeeper Dermot Mee rushed off his line to challenge Yago Santiago, he stayed down in the wake of the challenge but we kept the ball alive and after a slip in the United penalty area, Donley collected the ball and intelligently lofted it over every in the box to restore parity.

Luca Gunter twice denied Biancheri one-on-one after two separate mistakes at the back from us in the run-up to half-time, but we kept our composure going into the second half and almost regained the advantage on 53 minute when Donley ran onto Santiago's cross-field ball after a good diagonal pass from Charlie Sayers, but the England youth international's left-footed effort flew marginally wide.

The chances continued to come for both sides, Biancheri hitting the near post for United following an attack down the left, while the excellent Donley won possession deep inside the visitors' half and played Santiago through on goal, but Mee's positioning made it difficult for the forward and the keeper duly made the save. Gunter had to stay alert to make a couple of routine stops at the other end, while we had one last opening in the 88th minute after Donley fed Soonsup-Bell, but he fired over the bar from the right angle in the box.

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Match data

Goals: Spurs - Lankshear 16, Donley 36; Manchester United - Curley 18, Biancheri 25.

Yellow cards: Spurs - Kyerematen 23, Abbott 28, Hall 84; Manchester United - Murray 65, Sharpe 79, Williams 86.

Referee: Ross Martin.

Venue: Lamex Stadium, Stevenage.

Weather: Dry and bright, moderate breeze, nine degrees.

Attendance: 583.