Reserves lose

United's reserves lost 2-1 at Orient this afternoon, despite going a goal up after Bobby Ford finished off a good move featuring ROS Chris Hackett. Both Orient's goals were scored by Donny Barnard in the second half. The good news for United is that both Ford and elusive striker Lee Steele both came through eight ninths of the game without any problems and could now both feature on the bench on Saturday when Lincoln are the visitors to the KasStad.

United featured former Charlton centre half Stuart Balmer in the centre of a three-man defence. Since leaving the Valley Balmer has played for both Wigan and Oldham, where he played alongside Scott McNiven (amongst others, presumably) and he commanded a £200,000 fee when leaving Charlton, who he joined from Celtic, for the JJB Stadium in 1998. Balmer, who is 33, spent eight years with Charlton and is presumably seen by Ian Atkins as a replacement for Adi Viveash who no longer looks like he will be moving permanently to Oxford.

Cup glory

Former United players had a good day in yesterday's FA Cup first round replays, with four of their number finding their names on the scoresheet. Andy Thomson put Queens Park Rangers ahead against non-league Vauxhall Motors, but the Wirral side went on to humiliate Rangers at Loftus Road by winning on penalties. Jon Richardson put Forest Green Rovers ahead against his former club at St James Park, but Exeter went on to win 2-1. Matt Murphy scored Swansea City's equaliser at York but still found himself on the wrong end of a 2-1 scoreline. The only ex-United scorer who was on the winning side was Paul Wanless, who put Cambridge ahead against Scarborough at the Abbey Stadium. Cambridge still needed extra time to beat the Conference outfit, though.