Manchester United u18s played under the lights at the Emirates on Friday night as they took on Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the FA Youth Cup.
A reunion for Chido Obi wasn’t to be due to his involvement with the first team but Adam Lawrence still had a strong selection to pick from.
The strength in the United showed from the off as they immediately pinned Arsenal back in their own half.
Arsenal posed a danger on the counter though with the amount of space behind United’s high backline and were denied a clear 1v1 by the recovery of Jaydan Kamason who made a goal-saving tackle.
United other fullback, Harry Amass, then threatened up the other end with a stinging shot from 30 yards out.
United took a deserved lead on the 35th minute when Jack Fletcher shifted onto his weaker right foot and placed the ball just inside the right post from the edge of the box.
Fletcher came close to doubling his tally shortly after but it was Arsenal who scored next against the run of play.
A run from the outside in caught out Dan Armer for Louie Copley to run through and chip over Will Murdock.
After some excellent work by Kamason on the right wing, Tyler Fletcher forced a big save but couldn’t find the net as the score remained 1-1 at the break.
Arsenal’s star man Max Dowman came alive in the second half with a nice run that got the better of Reece Munro to draw a penalty which the 15 year old dispatched himself.
It was a frustrating evening for United as they struggled to create any clear openings despite their dominance in possession.
But after great determination, United’s best player on the night, Kamason, levelled it up at 2-2.
After a long spell of possession, James Scanlon clipped the ball out to the right where Kamason took the ball in stride and rifled a shot into the goal to bring it to extra time.
United got their just rewards in the end as Samuel Lusale, who had come off the bench to introduce some pace, ran in behind down the left before squaring across the goal to Bendito Mantato for a close range finish on his return from injury.
The goal sent the crowd into an eruption from the sizeable United following in attendance.
With Arsenal clinging on, the match was finished with William Sweet seeing a straight red card for a blatant trip on Kamason as he looked to run free into space.
United advance to the semi-finals now where they will take on the winner of Aston Villa and Plymouth Argyle.
United: Murdock; Kamason, Munro, Armer (Kukonki 91), Amass, Devaney (c) (Ibragimov 53), T. Fletcher (Thwaites 82), Scanlon, J. Fletcher (Lusale 90+1), Biancheri, Musa (Mantato 71)
Unused subs: Byrne-Hughes, Mills
Featured image James Fearn via Getty Images
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Colm Murphy
A football obsessed Canadian who moved to England to enjoy the beautiful game. Colm has been keen follower of Manchester United’s famed academy since seeing a fresh faced Adnan Januzaj for the club’s u18s and has been writing about football with a focus on youth development for over 10 years.
