Manchester United u21s took on Oldham Athletic on Wednesday night in their final group stage match of the National League Cup.
The night almost got off to a bad start in the opening minute when an Oldham cross was inadvertently directed onto the crossbar by Tyler Fredricson’s clearance attempt.
But United soon found their feet with keeper Elyh Harrison in particular shining with his ball distribution from the back.
In the 10th minute, Harrison played a ball over the top, taking out the entire Oldham side to put Malachi Sharpe through 1v1. But Sharpe’s weak finish bounced the wrong side of the post.
A long ball the other way caused United some trouble when Godwill Kukonki lost his bearings and the flight of the ball to let Sam Taylor run at the goal. Luckily for United, another poor finish saw the ball fly wide.
The closest chance in the first half came just before the break when Chido Obi had his effort cleared off the goal line.
Five minutes after the restart Obi struck the outside of the right post before United finally took the lead in the 63rd minute after a series of chances.
Jack Moorhouse picked up the ball at the edge of the box and opened his body to curl to the right corner. Instead he dragged the ball to the left, which left his marker stumbling while he slotted the ball low and into the goal with his left boot.
A bit of brilliance from Sekou Kone then set up United’s second. He drove through midfield, drawing in a number of markers which opened space for him to slip through Moorhouse, who was denied his second by a fantastic save, but Obi was on hand to tap into the open net.
Two minutes later, Ruben Curley expertly curled the ball with the outside of his boot into the path of Sharpe on the right wing who kept his composure and slotted under the keeper, making up for his misses in the first half.
It had become one way traffic at this point as Moorhouse fed Sam Mather into the box to make it 0-4 with a rocket into the roof of the net.
Victor Musa finished off the scoring in injury time with a header from Sam Murray’s corner.
The win sees United top their group with four wins from four and they will move onto the quarter-finals.
United are one of only three u21s sides to advance in the competition and alongside Braintree Town, the only other team to finish the group stage with a perfect record.
United: Harrison, Ogunneye, Fredricson, Kukonki, Murray, McAllister (Curley 61), Kone, Sharpe (Scanlon 78), Moorhouse, Mather, Obi (Musa 84)
Unused subs: Myles, Kamason, Munro, Rowe
Featured image Matt McNulty 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.
