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Saturday 26 April 2025 13:53
Manchester United Under-18s took a point in our match against Everton in a 4-4 draw at Finch Farm on Saturday morning.
Ray Robert gave the hosts the lead midway through the first half, after a strong United start.
The Reds pulled it back to 2-1 shortly before the half-time whistle through Jim Thwaites and Victor Musa, before a George Finney cross deflected into our net to send the two sides in level.
Gabriele Biancheri put Adam Lawrence’s side ahead on the other side of the interval. Two quick goals from Everton’s Malik Olayiwola then looked like clinching the win for the hosts, until Shea Lacey rescued a point in the final moments.
There was no stopping Jim Thwaites’ set-piece effort.
After a dominant start, Biancheri almost opened the scoring for Adam Lawrence’s side in the 14th minute with a curling effort, denied by the woodwork, but it was the hosts who took the lead 10 minutes later when Toffees striker Robert entered our penalty area from the left and squeezed a finish past the goalkeeper.
Shortly after, directly from a free-kick just outside of the penalty area, Thwaites gave Douglass Lukjanciks no chance to reach his curling effort struck neatly into the top-left corner.
Musa then gave the young Reds the lead for the first time in the game, hitting the same spot as Thwaites from a similar distance, in open play this time, to make the score 2-1.
We looked to be heading into the break with that one-goal advantage, when George Finney’s cross was deflected into our net moments before the half-time whistle, with the last touch possibly coming off James Overy.
After the restart, Samuel Lusale picked up a second ball from a Thwaites corner and struck it powerfully towards a crowded six-yard box. Unsure if it was heading for goal, Biancheri got an instinctive touch on the effort, claiming the Reds’ third and reinstating our lead.
Everton forward Olayiwola managed to intercept a William Murdock pass and slot home a finish just past the hour mark to level the game, before sending his side into the lead a few minutes later after collecting a rebounded ball and tapping into an empty net for the Toffees’ fourth.
Lawrence’s charges worked hard through the end of the game to try and find an equaliser, piling plenty of pressure on their opposite numbers, but it didn’t look like that last equaliser was coming.
But it finally arrived in the very last seconds of the game, when Lacey slalomed into the penalty area and found a gap to place his finish beyond Lukjanciks, securing a point for the young Reds in the nick of time.
Despite our valiant efforts, Manchester City’s 4-3 win against Derby County means we cannot overtake them at the top of the table.
A hard-fought draw at Finch Farm.
MATCH DETAILS
United: Murdock; Munro, Mills, Armer, Overy; Devaney (c) (Lusale 34), Baumann (Bailey 71); Musa, Ibragimov, Thwaites; Biancheri (Lacey 61).
Unused substitutes: Byrne-Hughes, Gabriel.
Goals: Thwaites 35, Musa 42, Biancheri 59, Lacey 90+6.
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Saturday 26 April 2025 13:53
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