It was a bittersweet evening for Jordan Rossiter on Monday as the Liverpool midfielder returned from injury for the U21s but they were narrowly beaten by Manchester United.

Michael Beale’s charges had recovered from two goals down to level the score at 2-2 in the final 10 minutes at Leigh Sports Village, but the hosts grabbed a late winner through Sean Goss.

Rossiter contributed a typically battling display on his hour-long comeback, giving no quarter against Belgium international Marouane Fellaini in the centre of the park.

He told Liverpoolfc.com: “It was great to be back. It has been about seven or eight weeks since my last game for Liverpool. So I really enjoyed being back out there – just a disappointing result overall.

“There was nothing in the game. In the first 15 or 20 minutes we were brilliant, then maybe we struggled for 10 minutes but we picked it back up. We never really had the luck you need sometimes but the boys worked really hard.

“I was gutted to come off but I need to manage myself, it has been a while since I’ve played. I just loved being back out there.”