Fright night for Ferdinand and Co.

Photo: PICTURES by ANTHONY MILLER

GOOD TO BE BACK . . . Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand clears the danger.

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ATHLETIC’S second string nearly pulled off a major shock against Manchester United reserves in the Manchester Senior Cup, on the night Rio Ferdinand returned from injury.

The England skipper lasted the entire first half against Lee Duxbury’s men before withdrawing seemingly intact.

But Athletic, who eventually lost 2-1 at Stalybridge Celtic’s Bower Fold ground, had not turned out to sit back and marvel at Ferdinand and fellow seniors Anderson, Wes Brown and Frederico Macheda.

Kirk Millar skipped past two challenges and saw his powerful drive deflected for a corner after six minutes.

While United were more comfortable in possession, the best chances of the first half belonged to Athletic.

Joe Jacobson rattled the crossbar after 18 minutes with a fine free kick from all of 30 yards.

And before the interval Andy Holdsworth turned Ferdinand inside the box and unleashed a shot — only for the England man to recover and block it.

Athletic took the lead just 60 seconds after the restart. Jacobsen got his head on Andrew Crompton’s corner from the right, and the ball bounced through the hands of goalkeeper Conor Devlin.

Stung into action, United levelled less than a minute later, Nicholas Ajose cutting in from the left and curling the ball past Joshua Ollerenshaw.

Athletic battled manfully but the momentum was with their opponents from that moment onwards.

Macheda won it for United with 13 minutes remaining when tricky footwork bought him a yard of space on the edge of the box and a vicious left-foot shot cannoned in off the crossbar.

Athletic reserves: Ollerenshaw, Lomax, Jacobson, Worthington, Cherel, Matt D Carr, Hughes, Holdsworth, Millar (Matt A Carr), Crompton (Laird, 70), Purdie. Subs not used: Routledge, Highdale, Tarowski.

United reserves: Devlin, W Brown, Gill, Wootton (Tunnicliffe, 83), Ferdinand (R Brown, 45), De Laet, Macheda, Anderson, Cofie (Lingard, 70), Eikrem, Ajose. Sub not used: Coll.

Attendance: 1,101