Injuries threaten Youth Cup bid

With the Reds’ Youth Cup third round tie with Birmingham City just a fortnight away, the pool of available players for Paul McGuinness to choose from for that match seems to be dwindling by the day.

Reserves: Hull 1 United 2 – Tošić tames the Tigers

November 24th 2009, 7pm
Church Road, North Ferriby

	-
Hull City Reserves	1-2	Manchester United Reserves

Cullen 77

-

Tošić 58, 90+2

 
Two goals from Zoran Tošić – the last deep into injury time – were enough to hand the Reds a deserved away win over Hull City and avenge last year’s reverse at Church Road.

The Serb international brilliantly opened the scoring just before the hour mark with a clever finish after a mazy run into the Hull penalty area. Mark Cullen’s opportunistic strike after a rare lapse in concentration at the back by the Reds looked to have salvaged the home side a somewhat fortunate share of the spoils, but Ole Solskjaer’s side had other ideas, pushing for the winner right until the end in typical United fashion and getting just reward in the second minute of added time, Tošić slotting home from the edge of the box to secure another hard-earned three points in the Barclays Premier Reserve League North.

U18s: Liverpool 1 United 3 – Classy Keane KO’s ‘Pool

November 21st 2009, 11am
Liverpool Academy, Kirkby

	-
Liverpool U18s	1-3	Manchester United U18s

Pepper 89	-	Keane 16, 75
-	-	Ajose 54

 
Two goals and an assist from the in-form Will Keane saw United pick up an impressive 3-1 win at the Liverpool Academy for the second successive year.

More to come…

Date set for Youth Cup clash

United and Birmingham have finalised arrangements for the hosting of their FA Youth Cup third round tie, with the game now scheduled to take place on Thursday 10th December at Altrincham’s Moss Lane ground (usual home of the reserves), kick-off at 7pm.

We’ll have a detailed preview and all the news and build-up here over the next few weeks.

Fixture frustration for U18s and Reserves

Both Paul McGuinness’ U18 side and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s second string have had their upcoming games postponed.

Tomorrow’s Premier Academy League game with Stoke City has been called off after inclement weather this past week caused the pitch at the Potters’ Clayton Wood base to become waterlogged. Both teams have a free weekend at the end of this month but the short notice and probable Youth Cup considerations will likely mean the fixture will instead be re-arranged for some time in the spring. As usual, when we find out the new date, we’ll let you know.

Meanwhile the Reserves’ Manchester Senior Cup clash with Stockport County, originally scheduled for Monday night at Ashton United’s Hurst Cross ground, has been re-arranged for Thursday December 17th at County’s request. With Hull away next up on the fixture list on November 24th, Solskjaer’s side will have endured a frustrating three weeks without a game by that time.

Youth Cup draw pits Reds against Blues

The draw for the Third Round of this year’s FA Youth Cup has been conducted today, with United landing a home tie against Birmingham City.

October’s Player of the Month: Will Keane

Scorer of four goals for the academy (including a derby hattrick) and key part of a successful England U17 side, Will Keane breaks the Norwegian strangehold on our monthly award so far this season to earn the honour for October.

U18s: United 5 Bolton 1 – Reds run riot with sensational second-half performance

November 7th 2009, 11am
Trafford Training Centre, Carrington

	-
Manchester United U18s	5-1	Bolton Wanderers U18s

W. Keane 28	-	Sampson 85
Morrison 52	-	-
Tunnicliffe 65	-	-
Cole 75	-	-
Pogba 90 (pen)	-	-

 
 
A week in the Maltese sun clearly had the desired effect on United’s U18 side as they thrashed a strong Bolton Wanderers side 5-1 at Carrington to move into second place in Academy League Group C.

One of the form teams in academy football, the visitors arrived at Carrington in optimistic mood and gave pretty much as good as they got in the first 45 minutes, only to be blown away after the break by a scintillating display of attacking football that saw Ravel Morrison and Ryan Tunnicliffe add to Will Keane’s first half opener before Larnell Cole and Paul Pogba completed the scoring with their first U18 goals either side of a bizarre late consolation goal for the Trotters’ Jack Sampson.

City 1 United 0: Reds surrender top spot with derby defeat

November 3rd 2009, 7pm
Regional Athletics Arena, Manchester

	-
Manchester City Reserves	1-0	Manchester United Reserves

Nimely 20

-

-

 
As the first-team played out an entertaining and eventful Champions League clash with CSKA Moscow at Old Trafford, an altogether more dour and unmemorable encounter over the other side of Manchester saw Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reserve side fall to a second league defeat of the season at the hands of City, ceding top spot in the northern section to Liverpool in the process.

A strong start by the hosts brought reward after 20 minutes in the form of a fine strike from their England U20 forward Alex Nimely, and in truth United were fortunate to only be the one goal behind at the break. Looking to get back on terms in the second half, their task was made all the more difficult as substitute Scott Wootton saw red just three minutes after being introduced, and while the Reds produced their best football of the game despite being a man short, they were unable to find a way back into the game.

Barmby set for England bow

United schoolboy Jack Barmby has been named in the England Under-16 squad for this Thursday’s Sky Sports Victory Shield clash with Northern Ireland.