While all the national media hype over 'will he or won't he' - United goalkeeper Mark Bosnich's move to Celtic or not having been relegated to third choice custodian by Sir Alex Ferguson - attracted all the attention before, during and after this prestigious friendly match on Saturday it thankfully failed to spoil City's big day.

A crowd of 1,512 watched Bosnich, plus five other players who have tasted first team football at Old Trafford, but many neutrals in the crowd would have been equally impressed by the way City played some attractive football.

Afterwards City manager Gary Bellamy said he was delighted with the way his players had contributed to the game and adapted to the style of football they been working on in training.

"It was a good opportunity to play the way we want to this season which is attractive, attacking football," he said.

"But we first had to get the basics right, such as defending as strong unit, making it difficult for the opposition to break us down and then creating space for ourselves to score goals."

He added: "Playing against these quality players is the easiest way to learn and I am sure our players will benefit from their experience.

''We put up a commendable performance and the only black spot of the day was the behaviour of a few morons in the crowd with their obscene chants and who call themselves supporters.

"I am sure this didn't spoil it for most people and afterwards the United officials were complimentary on the way we played on the field."

Although class and quality showed through in the end City more than held their own in a game with several thrilling moments and had Steve Portway's early lob, that caught the Australian keeper out, gone in it might have been a different story.

City's new striker opened the scoring in the 20th minute with a penalty after Gary Bennett had been fouled and before the break Sean Campbell wasted a golden chance to add a second goal after impressive work by Rob Walker.

Against top class opposition such misses get punished and on 33 minutes United equalised when the unmarked Alex Notman fired home a low shot pass the stranded Paul Catley.

Early in the second half Catley distinguished himself with two excellent saves from Michael Stewart and John O'Shea.

The superiority of the visitors showed as they took control of the second period, scoring through a Notman penalty in the 65th minute and two minutes later, Michael Clegg nipped in from the right wing to score with a ferocious shot.

To their credit, City, who gave a run out to all their squad players in the second half, kept plugging away and Bennett should have been rewarded with a goal six minutes from time but this was surprisingly disallowed.

It was a great day for City, their fans and neutrals watching and one long to be remembered for the right reasons.

Chelmsford City: Catley, Girling, Cousins, Bishop, Lewis; Hyatt, Walker, Dobinson, Bennett, Portway, and Campbell. Substitutes (all used): Berquez, Reeve, McCoy, Barber, Cummings, and Fuller.

Well held: Manchester United goalkeeper Mark Bosnich gathers the ball safely in Saturday's friendly against Chelmsford City.

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