City recovered from going a goal behind within the first five minutes to earn a 1-1 draw with Manchester United reserves at Hyde this evening in front of the biggest EDS crowd of the season.

John Guidetti levelled the scores from the penalty spot in the first half, but the Blues couldn’t find the winning goal their overall performance merited.

With 1,726 fans braving freezing temperatures at Ewen Fields, the visitors were soon ahead after Freddie Veseli pulled down Cameron Stewart with a sliding tackle on four minutes.

William Keane saw his spot-kick well saved by David Gonzalez, but the rebound fell to straight to Keane who made no mistake with his second chance.

United’s lead was relatively short-lived after great work by Guidetti and Alex Nimely who proved to be a constant thorn in the United defence, produced a richly-deserved equaliser.

Nimely’s pace saw him just nick the ball off Oliver Gill’s toe, but the United man had committed himself and brought the Blues’ striker down to give the referee no option but to award a penalty that Guidetti slotted home.

City dominated the remainder of the first period but spurned several chances, the closest being Chris Chantler striking the inside of the post on 27 minutes.

The Blues seemed to lose their momentum after the break though Tutte was unlucky to see a powerful drive beaten out by Johnstone on 77 minutes and with the second period a much more even affair with no further chances of any note for either side.