United academy star skips match to hang out at Alton Towers ahead of Cup final

Manchester United Under-18s travelled to Newcastle on Saturday afternoon for their penultimate league match of the season. Darren Fletcher was without his star forward, JJ Gabriel, after it was revealed that the prodigy will not partake in the final two league matches in order to rest after a long season and ahead of the FA Youth Cup final. The youngster’s father also revealed on X (formerly Twitter) that Gabriel enjoyed a day out at Alton Towers instead. Not football today , Alton towers today instead 🤪 🎪 — JG (@joeG8710) May 2, 2026 First half The home side started the stronger of the two, threatening Cameron Byrne-Hughes’ goal twice in the opening three minutes. Henry Johnson headed over from close range first before Alfie Seldon’s strike from a wide angle sailed narrowly over the crossbar. Newcastle took the lead in the 11th minute through Rory Finneran. The Irish midfielder collected the ball from a United clearance and rifled a low shot into the bottom left corner from the edge of the box. United had to settle for half-chances throughout the first half, with Jariyah Shah’s blocked shot being one of the better opportunities. In the 27th minute, Yuel Helafu lost possession at the back, giving Kacey Wooster the chance to find the same corner as Finneran earlier in the half, making it 2-0 at the break. Second half United looked to turn it around in the second half, with James Overy forcing a low save early after the restart. But just moments later, it was Newcastle who had the ball in the net again. Michael Mills finished Alfie Seldon’s cross, but United were saved by the offside flag on this occasion. Samuel Lusale provided a bright spark for United with his dribbling down the right wing, which opened up space for Shah to force another save from the Newcastle keeper. Noah Ajayi was introduced off the bench to liven up United’s performance and almost made an instant impact when he drove towards the box and was brought down, but the referee waved away his appeals. Despite having the majority of the possession throughout the second half, United never really threatened Newcastle’s lead, and the home side held onto the 2-0 scoreline until the final whistle. United will now round off their league campaign against Stoke City at Carrington and still have the FA Youth Cup final against Manchester City to come, with a date not yet confirmed. Match facts United: Byrne-Hughes; Helafu (Plunkett 63), McCormack, Mills, Overy; McEvoy; Lusale, Ibragimov (c) (Ajayi 63), Shah, Brown (D. Nkoto 63); Bradbury (B. Nkoto 75). Unused subs: Heath. Booked: Shah, McEvoy, D. Nkoto. The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social 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. You can follow him X: RedYouthUnited.