Under-18s: United v City

Manchester United Under-18s fell to a 4-0 defeat against crosstown rivals Manchester City at Carrington in the U18 Premier League.

The Reds came close to an opener when James Scanlon rattled the crossbar inside 10 minutes, but it was the visitors who took the lead in the first half through Ryan McAidoo.

It wasn’t an ideal start to United’s campaign for a comeback in the second half as Reigan Heskey doubled City’s advantage seconds after the restart.

Tyler Fletcher saw his effort cleared off the line at 2-0 as United looked for a route back into the game, but the visitors were able to increase our arrears to four through Stephen Mfuni and Luca Fletcher before the referee blew the final whistle.

It was almost a dream start to this Manchester derby for Adam Lawrence’s side when Chido Obi bounded forward and squared the ball to Scanlon in the centre of the penalty area. Receiving the pass, our no.11 struck it first time but was denied by the crossbar.

There followed a period of intense pressure from the young Reds, with City pinned in their own half, but that allowed them to spring a counter-attack through Finlay Gorman. The midfielder found McAidoo with a through ball, who netted the opener for the Blues.

The game settled into a calmer rhythm following that goal, with much of the battle being done in the centre of the park.

Obi did create an opportunity in the final moments of the first 45 minutes, shielding the ball on the edge of the opposition box before finding an angle for the shot, but Max Hudson managed to reach the effort shortly before the referee brought an end to the first half.

There was work to do for United to mount a comeback after the interval, and that task wasn’t made any simpler when McAidoo sprinted down the right wing seconds after the restart.

The scorer of the first got a shot off himself but William Murdock managed to parry it. Unfortunately, that intervention found it’s way into the path of Heskey on the other side of our penalty area, who had an easy tap-in to double the visitors’ lead.

United went close to pulling one back, first with an Obi header nodded just wide of the mark before Tyler Fletcher had a close-range effort cleared off the line 10 minutes later.

But the comeback wasn’t to be, as Mfuni nodded in a third on the end of a Divine Mukasa corner and substitute Luca Fletcher added a fourth following a turnover of possession on the edge of the young Reds’ box.

MATCH DETAILS

United: Murdock; Kamason, Munro (c), Armer, Amass; T.Fletcher; Fitzgerald, Thwaites (Bailey 81); Musa, Obi, Scanlon (Kukonki 69).

Unused subs: Byrne-Hughes, Mills, Plunkett.

Goals: McAidoo 21, Heskey 46, Mfuni 65, Fletcher 74.

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