Manchester United U21s took on rivals Manchester City at the Joie Stadium on Friday night in the Premier League 2 semi-finals.
City were expected to be one of the toughest tests for Travis Binnion’s side after having topped the table during the regular season, and they proved to be just that.
The two sides exchanged dangerous deliveries into the box in the opening moments, but neither could test the opposition keeper early on.
Divin Mubama had the best chance in the 20th minute when he was played in behind United’s backline and managed to cut back inside past both Louis Jackson and Godwill Kukonki but the City striker lost his footing at the last minute as he slipped and lost the chance to test Elyh Harrison.
Mubama proved a handful to defend throughout for United’s defenders and found himself in the box behind Kukonki again shortly afterwards but snatched at his effort to drag it wide of the right post.
At the other end, Ethan Wheatley had to resort to feeding off scraps for most of the half but did excellently to create some space after Jackson’s long ball to shoot from the edge of the box but was unable to keep it on target.
A handball in the box from Kukonki had United worried just before the half but an offside earlier in the play meant the score remained 0-0 going into the break.
United looked improved in the early stages of the second half, forcing a series of turnovers from City in their own half.
But United were unable to take advantage with Wheatley heading over the bar before Tyler Fletcher curled his effort the wrong side of the left post.
A rare mistake from Harrison gave the ball away for City to attack with a cross to Mubama who found himself open in front of the goal but poor finishing from the City target man let United off the hook again.
United weren’t so lucky on the next occasion though as Mubama headed in at the back post after drifting off the back of Jackson in the 66th minute.
Jack Fletcher made almost an instant impact off the bench with some intricate passing through the midfield as United enjoyed their best spell of passing but it wasn’t to be for United as Mubama sealed the win for City late on with his second.
The loss marks a disappointing end of the season for Binnion’s U21s after a promising season where they finished 5th in the regular season but ultimately couldn’t make it to the play-off finals.
United: Harrison, Ogunneye (Rowe 86), Jackson, Kukonki, Murray, Devaney (J. Fletcher), T. Fletcher, Scanlon, Kone, Williams (Biancheri 60), Wheatley
Unused subs: Murdock, Munro
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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.
