Manchester United u18s travelled to Stoke on Saturday morning as they returned to league action.
Looking to continue their perfect record in the league, Adam Lawrence’s side took control of the match from the off as Stoke dropped deep into two blocks at the edge of their box.
Reminiscent of the old Tony Pulis style of football that made Stoke famous, it proved a tough task for United to break them down.
With little space to work with it took real quality to open up the home side, which came in the form of an eye of the needle pass from Tyler Fletcher which fed Chido Obi into the left side of the box to cross low across the face of goal. But Samuel Lusale was just out of reach to apply the finish.
On the half hour mark, Jim Thwaites delivered into the box for Reece Munro at the back post who put his effort wide of the goal to leave it 0-0 at the break.
Stoke joined Manchester City as only the second team to hold United scoreless at the break this season.
Stoke came close to a goal of their own early into the second half when they volleyed it off the crossbar but normal service resumed shortly after with it all being one-way traffic.
Chido Obi outmuscled Raphael-Pijus Otegbayo to get goal side and into the box before the Stoke defender took him down as he tried to recover. Penalty to United.
Obi stepped up and slotted into the bottom corner to give United the deserved lead.
With United in the lead, the floodgates opened as Stoke were forced to push out from the back. Victor Musa was played through one on one with the keeper but his dinked finish was read by the keeper, who stood tall to make the save.
Just a minute later though, Godwill Kukonki brought the ball up the left wing, delivering a cross into the box which could only be cleared to James Scanlon at the edge of the area to smash into the top left corner.
Dante Plunkett then scored a goal which was ruled out for offside but he didn’t have to wait long before he hit the back of the net again to make it 0-3. A crossfield pass put Bendito Mantato through to shoot, but his effort was denied before Plunkett finished off the rebound.
The victory makes it 10 wins in 10 for United in the league as their dominance continues with a goal difference of 42 after 10 matches.
United: Byrne-Hughes, Plunkett, Mills, Munro, Kukonki, T. Fletcher, Baumann (Ibragimov 62), Lusale (Mantato 62), Thwaites (Bailey 76), Scanlon (Kaba 84), Obi (Musa 76)
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.
