Ahead of kick-off at Leigh Sports Village on Tuesday night, there was a rare pre-match birthday announcement. 'Harvey' was celebrating his 13th birthday and he would have been delighted with Manchester United's Under-21 starting lineup.
Brandon Williams, Zidane Iqbal and Kobbie Mainoo, who all regularly train with the first team, were named in the starting side to play Chelsea and Mainoo, who was given his debut against Charlton in the League Cup, is particularly exciting.
Club sources have indicated Mainoo is considered a real natural talent with high technical ability and he started in attacking midfield from the first whistle under the floodlights, so it was appropriate that he was wearing the No.10 shirt.
ALSO READ: Man United players have a simple choice after Liverpool defeat
Tom Huddlestone and Iqbal, the Iraqi-Mancunian who impressed Erik ten Hag on the pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia last summer, started alongside Mainoo in the centre and they were behind Mateo Mejia, Joe Hugill and Dan Gore in attack.
United's U21s endured a poor start to the season, but their fortunes have improved since the New Year and confidence in the dressing room of getting a result against Chelsea would have been high, despite coming up against strong opponents.
The Reds entered the contest having gone eight games undefeated, but Chelsea are second in the Premier League 2 and they showed their quality from the very start of the game when almost scoring through Mason Burstow within a minute. A simple ball over the top caught out United's defenders, Marc Jurado, Sonny Aljofree, Bjorn Hardley and Brandon Williams, and they were thankful for the intervention of Radek Vitel, who made a huge save to prevent a nightmare start.
Mainoo looked to get on the ball from that moment on and his refusal to be dispossessed is an endearing trait. His centre of gravity has always been exceptional according to his former coaches, and it was on display again versus Chelsea.
The youngster, who often played above his age level in the academy, is just 17 and yet he outmuscles most in duels. Ten Hag has given Mainoo valuable experience around the first team this season and you don't have to be a scout to see why.
Ten Hag was spotted pulling Mainoo for a chat on the Wembley pitch after the Carabao Cup final victory last month and it's hoped the Stockport-born lad can progress to become an essential part of the club's midfield in the years to come.
Aljofree, who is 18 years old, is also making promising strides at centre-back. His passing was excellent against Chelsea and he was the bridge from the defence to the midfield, just like Lisandro Martinez is for the senior side.
"'Push up Sonny," Mark Dempsey shouted at around the 20-minute mark and he responded to that call by progressing the ball into the Chelsea half, although the visitors did look threatening on the counter-attack and soon came close again.
Jurado was struggling with the threat of Chelsea forward Juan Castillo, who started on the left wing, but United were creating chances of their own at the other end, although Gore could not produce a finish to open the scoring.
The game's tempo made it a watchable contest and Aljofree and Williams made outstanding, strong challenges shortly after Gore missed that chance. Aljofree's tackle won praise from his teammates and Dempsey also shouted over.
However, Aljofree and Williams could do nothing about Chelsea's goal in the 32nd minute. The London club counter-attacked and Iqbal deflected a cross into the path of Burstow, who made no mistake on this occasion.
Iqbal almost found immediate 'redemption' after some superb work from Mainoo but his finish was wide. United went into half-time trailing 1-0, but they started the second half with vigour and intent and quickly drew level.
While it was Joe Hugill found the back of the net just before the hour mark with his ninth goal of the season it was Iqbal, who danced around the Chelsea defenders in the box before his teammate was able to pounce, that deserved the bulk of the credit.
Ten Hag has recognised the talent of Mainoo and Iqbal this season and they both shone against Chelsea. United have an unrivalled record of producing academy talent and the pair's progression has been a pleasure to follow for supporters.
After Hugill's equaliser, United wanted more and they almost scored a winner with 10 minutes to go thanks to Mejia's energy down the wing. The pacy Colombian played a cross toward Hugill but he could not poach another goal.
Unfortunately, that moment became costly just minutes later when Chelsea ruthlessly transitioned to win the game. Vitek made a superb save to deny the first shot, but the goalkeeper was helpless as Leo Castledine finished the rebound.
Dempsey's youngsters pushed for an equaliser and Jurado came close with a stunning free-kick, but the salt was then rubbed into United's wounds when Chelsea scored in added time to make the game 3-1 on the counter-attack.
United did not deserve to lose in that manner and the scoreline felt unjustified.
At least 'Harvey' was able to see a few goals on his 13th birthday.
READ NEXT:
