Wednesday night saw us welcome 3226 fans to York Road for our final home pre-season fixture against Wolves.
The game started with intensity from the off as Ryan Peters' United were not willing to sit back and try and absorb whatever the Championship side threw at them. That pressure nearly reaped its reward in the opening five minutes as Owen Cochrane lofted a beatiful pass into Josh Coley's path, our number seven took it down and looked to make room for a shot but the space soon squeezed in on him.
Just over five minutes later, Leon Chiwome was presented with a golden opportunity to break the deadlock as a fortunate bounce fell his way in the area, but Jordi van Stappershoef was off his line quickly to smother.
Jordi's huge presence in United's goal was more than felt throughout the evening as he denied Wolves' attacking threat on multiple occasions. Tawanda Chirewa was next to be denied as Jordi held his rather tame effort, before getting down low once again to Chiwome with just shy of half an hour gone.
Coley had the best chance for United as we approached the interval. United sustained an attack, latching onto a loose ball, Joshua Johnson's corss fell to his namesake who swiveled and volleyed quick fearing he may have been offside but Dan Bentley got down to collect and no flag was raised.
Ten minutes into the seocnd half, Wolves gave United their biggest scare as Ethan Sutherland delivered from the left to Pedro Lima who couldn't keep his shot down at the far post.
Mateus Mane would socre the game's only goal just moments later, his quick interplay on the edge of the area opened space for him to finish across goal and into the side netting.
Ten minutes later, Jordi was once again called into action, this the pick of the bunch, as Tom Edozie evaded a challenge on the edge before firing for the far top corner. Our flying dutchman did just that and his outstretched arm managed to turn the effort round the post.
As the game entered the final 25 minutes, we saw the introduction of some fresh United legs inclduing first cameos for summer recruits Freddie Dunham and Connor Hall. One of those who came on late on was another summer signing in Dan Nkrumah, he went closest late on with a brilliant turn in the area freeing space for him to flash an effort across the face of goal.
One-nil the score finished in what was a brilliant battle in Berkshire, a test for Ryan Peters' Magpie's against a strong opposition whose quality eventually shone through.
The Magpies are on the road this weekend as we take the trip to Dorset to face Wimborne Town (KO 3pm).
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