By Sam Preston

Mellor scores twice for Under 23s in first game after Salford loan ended

Manchester United’s Under-23 side were in action at Brighton a little over 24 hours before the senior side host West Ham.

United scooped a 2-1 win against their Seagulls counterparts.

They raced into a two-goal lead before half-time with Di’Mani Mellor netting both, having started the game as United’s centre-forward.

Brighton pulled one back through Marc Leonard with nine minutes remaining but Neil Wood’s side held on to get all three points on the road.

Mellor makes goalscoring return

Mellor was recalled from his loan spell at Salford City earlier this week and went straight into the starting team here.

He led the line with Shola Shoretire, Isak Hansen-Aarøen and Noam Emeran behind him and wasted no time getting back among the goals.

In central midfield were Charlie Savage and Zidane Iqbal, with Will Fish, Bjorn Hardley, Alvaro Fernandez and Charlie Wellens at the back. Ondřej Mastný was in goal.

Mellor made just three appearances for Gary Bowyer’s side and did not start a single match for the League 2 outfit.

There were no signs of any rustiness or lack of confidence from the way he took his goals here.

He also came back to United to get some much-needed minutes for the under-23s in a one off game last month.

Salford have since confirmed the signing of striker Matt Smith, which may have played a part in the decision of Mellor’s future.

It remains to be seen if he is loaned out again to somewhere he will play more often or whether he is going to stick around.

Either way, two goals in the first half of his first game back since his loan spell was ended early represents a fine start.

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Sam Preston

Sam Preston is an NCTJ gold standard news and sports journalist who studied with the Press Association. He also has a 2:1 law with French law degree from the University of Birmingham, which included a year studying at Bordeaux Montaigne University. He is an FA Level 1 football coach who appeared on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show in 2018 and has also written digital football content and match-day programme pieces for Colchester United, Mansfield Town and Stockport County.