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Manchester United defender Rhys Bennett scored a late equaliser for Fleetwood Town against Stoke City in the Carabao Cup.
On a night where the Red Devils smashed Barnsley 7-0 to progress to the fourth round of the cup, Bennett grabbed his first senior goal in the same competition.
Stoke dominated proceedings, having 21 shots to Fleetwood’s seven and controlled the possession with 65% of the ball.
Fleetwood did achieve a credible 1-1 draw on the night with Bennett’s 91st minute equaliser, before unluckily losing on penalties to the side ranked two leagues above them.
The 20 year old Youth Cup winning centre back came on in the 70th minute of play and found the back of the net with a towering header for his first ever senior goal.
The ball was swung in from the right hand side of the pitch and the United centre back rose like a salmon to power a well-timed header past the stranded Stoke keeper.
His delight was clear for all to see as a wheeled off in celebration, happily taking the plaudits of his new teammates.
Sofascore gave the player a rating of 7.5 as he proved to be highly influential for the Fishermen despite his limited time on the pitch.
During his 20 minutes of action he also made one interception and won his only aerial duel of the match.
He had 15 touches of the ball, completing seven out of his nine passes for a percentage of 78%.
Bennett will be delighted to not only get off the mark but also to be playing regularly again.
Since scoring in the final and captaining United’s 2022 Youth Cup winning side that also included Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho, not everything has gone the 20 year old’s way.
The defender spent the first six months of 2023 injured but made his return in a pre-season victory over Leeds United in July for the senior side.
He went on a six month loan to Stockport County in January of this year but struggled to make any impact playing only one game, which was a 4-0 loss against Tranmere Rovers.
Things look much more on the up this season though as he has already made 4 appearances for Fleetwood and will be hoping to be back in the action when his side host Morecambe next Monday evening.
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