Mirroring our 2011 pre-season when the first team visited the USA and the reserves faced Dutch opposition, United U21s are in Holland for a quartet of friendlies against their "Jong" counterparts.

Overcoming Vitesse Arnhem 4-3 on Tuesday night, Peter Beardsley's side moved on to another local league ground in the Arnhem area 48 hours later, facing Utrecht at the home of VV Rheden. 

In contrast to the opening game though, the opening 45 minutes of this game were instantly forgettable, with United managing only one short from Haris Vuckic that was instantly charged down.

And though hardly impressive, Utrecht made and missed a trio of scoring chances, goalkeeper Brendan Pearson denying striker Sylla Sow with the only one on target.

Things only marginally improved after the break, with Sean Longstaff putting a 46th minute effort wide from Adam Laidler's cross and Pearson making further stops. 

The breakthrough came on 74 minutes when substitute Alex Gilliead's left wing cross was dummied by Longstaff and superbly swept home by Dutch trialist Dani Koks.   

Utrecht levelled with seven minutes left after Junior van der Velden headed in a free kick but from what was only the second shot that the black and whites managed, Koks came up trumps again.

The former Ajax player latched on to a through ball from Liam Smith in the 84th minute and rounded the 'keeper before firing home his third goal in just two games.

Utrecht pressed for a second equaliser in the closing stages, but Pearson blocked two late efforts and United maintained their 100% pre-season record - albeit in decidedly fortunate circumstances.

Thanks to GW