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

	-
Hull City Reserves	1-2	Manchester United Reserves

Cullen 77

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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.

Match report to come…

 
UNITED
1. Ron-Robert Zieler
2. Ryan Tunnicliffe
3. Oliver Gill
4. Scott Wootton
5. Ritchie de Laet
6. Matt James (c)
7. Cameron Stewart
8. Sam Hewson (14. Will Keane 61)
9. Oliver Norwood
10. Magnus Eikrem (15. Davide Petrucci 75)
11. Zoran Tošić

Booked: Gill, Norwood

Ref: R J West

Attendance: ?

Hull City: Oxley, Fox, Cooper, Wilkinson, Deagle, Satelle, Leonard, Hanley, Ekra, Cullen, Kendall.

November 21st 2009, 11am
Liverpool Academy, Kirkby

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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…

 
UNITED
1. Conor Devlin
2. Ryan Tunnicliffe
3. Zeki Fryers (12. Oliver Gill 48)
4. Tom Thorpe
5. Sean McGinty
6. Larnell Cole
7. Jesse Lingard
8. Paul Pogba
9. Will Keane
10. Davide Petrucci (c)
11. Nicky Ajose

Booked: Tunnicliffe

Ref: P T Kettlewell

Liverpool: Oldfield, Flanagan, Robinson (Ihiekwe 84), Sama, McGiveron, Coady (c), Wisdom, Roberts, Ellison, Adorjan (Pepper 62), Ince. Unused subs: Chamberlain, Roddan, Ngoo.

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.

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.

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.

As with the FA Cup, the Youth Cup sees the big boys enter at the Third Round stage, and United were first out of the hat when the draw was made earlier today at FA HQ. Clubs like St Albans City, Bishops Stortford and Atherstone Town remained in the competition but for the second straight season, the Reds were paired with another Premier League side at this stage.

Home advantage will mean Paul McGuinness and his side should be confident of progressing, but the last two seasons provide cautionary tales. Two years ago Carlisle United visited the Marstons Arena in round four and pulled off one of the bigger Youth Cup shocks of recent times, while last year saw the Reds fall at the first hurdle after an agonising 3-2 loss to Chelsea at Old Trafford.

Birmingham’s academy side aren’t to be underestimated either – their Academy League record (5 wins, 6 defeats, a current four-game losing streak following on from a four-game winning run) paints a picture of an inconsistent side capable of beating anyone on their day, and the presence of England U17 goalkeeper Jack Butland and England U19 squad members Ashley Sammons, Mitch McPike and Jordon Mutch in their ranks hints at there being some real quality available to coach Terry Westley.

One plus point to drawing strong opposition is the likelihood that the tie will be staged at Old Trafford, which would be a terrific experience for all involved. Indeed, the last meeting between these two teams at academy level came in a Youth Cup tie at Old Trafford, the 2006/07 Quarter Final, where two goals from Sam Hewson sent United through to the semis and eventually a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out defeat to Liverpool in the final.

Third Round ties must be played no later than December 12th, so news on the date, time and venue should be available pretty soon – we’ll have that information for you as soon as it’s known.

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.

The Stockport-born forward endured a frustrating start to the campaign in front of goal but his contribution to United’s attacking play had still been significant. Now, he’s getting the goals that his performances have merited, most notably the three of them that he netted in the superb 3-0 victory over Manchester City at Carrington. The 16 year-old had broken his academy league duck with a consolation strike at Crewe the previous week, and that seems to have opened the floodgates – Keane has already added another goal in the month of November, and sits atop the scoring charts for Paul McGuinness’ academy side with five for the year so far.

Add in a further goal against Kazakhstan for the England U17 side en route to comfortable progress into the elite round of U17 Euro 2010 qualifying (Keane started all three games, against the Kazakhs, Azerbaijan and Serbia) and a debut for the reserves away to Everton (followed by another appearance in the MSC win over Oldham), and it’s fair to say it’s been quite a month for the local youngster.

Keane wasn’t alone in impressing for the academy throughout October – Ryan Tunnicliffe was ever-present and a key figure throughout the month, as he has been all season, while Nicky Ajose’s versatility and eye for goal stood out in a topsy-turvy few weeks. Conor Devlin’s performance at Wolves is almost enough on its own to merit consideration (even without other fine displays), while new signing Paul Pogba has caused quite the stir with some eye-catching contributions in midfield after finally being cleared to play.

The second string weren’t far from having the perfect month, with five wins, 15 goals scored and none conceded in their first five games of October. Alas the penalty shootout exit to Liverpool on the 29th saw the month end on a disappointing note, but it shouldn’t mask what was an impressive period for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad, with several players shining. Perhaps most notable was last month’s award winner Magnus Eikrem, who scored two almost identical and equally brilliant freekicks against Sunderland and Blackburn and also chipped in with a stunning 40-yard chip in the former match.

Also worthy of mention are Febian Brandy – who scored three in three games to help earn a loan move to Gillingham – and Zoran Tošić, who turned in fine goalscoring displays against Blackburn and Liverpool, sandwiching an encouraging cameo in the first-team’s cup tie at Barnsley, while at the back, Oliver Gill and Joe Dudgeon continue to impress in understated fashion.

At senior level, Danny Welbeck was another to catch the eye in that League Cup clash, scoring for the second round in succession to set the Reds on their way to the quarter-finals. Messrs Obertan, Macheda and da Silva x2 all earned positive reviews at Oakwell also. Meanwhile away from United but still at first team level, Tom Cleverley has continued his fantastic start to the season with Watford, the winning goal in the Hornets’ away win over Middlesbrough perhaps the highlights as the 20 year-old’s reputation continues to grow and grow.

As ever, we want to hear your views – agree with our PotM choice, or think one of the other candidates is more deserving? Is there someone we’ve not mentioned who has stood out for you? Let us know in the comments and by voting in our poll – last month, 68% of voters agreed with our choice of Magnus Eikrem as the star man for September.
 

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.

 
The big team news was the presence of Davide Petrucci in the starting lineup, a first academy league start since Valentines Day for the gifted Italian. Playing in his preferred role behind the striker (John Cofie in this case), the 18 year-old also took the captain’s armband, with regular skipper Robbie Brady absent after picking up an injury on the academy’s trip to Malta and his usual deputy Scott Wootton suspended after a red card in the reserve derby in midweek.

Elsewhere, Michele Fornasier and Tom Thorpe made up the centre-back partnership, with Zeki Fryers restored to the left-back berth after missing the Wolves game and Alberto Massacci contining on the other side of the defence. Ryan Tunnicliffe and Paul Pogba continued in central midfield, while Will Keane took up an unfamiliar position wide right, opposite Nicky Ajose. On the other side of the ball, there was a familiar name in the form of Liam Irwin, son of Denis, who was an interested observer on the touchline.

A largely scrappy first half gave little indication of what was to come after the interval, with neither goalkeeper really being unduly threatened. Cofie and Bolton’s Adam Blakeman went close with efforts from range early on and the latter stages of the half saw the Reds escape somewhat fortunately without conceding a penalty after Ajose appeared to clearly handle inside the box, but the really decisive moments of the opening period came midway through, as United momentarily found their passing rhythm and Cofie really posed problems for the visiting defence.

Will Keane - United's MOTM got the scoring underway

That defence were given ample warning of the Ghana-born forward’s pace and power when he broke clear down the left and forced a fine diving save from Wanderers’ keeper Jay Lynch, but they failed to take heed of that warning. Just before the half-hour Cofie got in behind the defence again and with the Bolton defence appealing in vain for offside, the big striker bore down on goal and skipped around Lynch, who could only bring him down. Referee Young was surely poised to point to the spot (and almost certainly produce a red card), but the alert Keane saved him the bother, following up to tap into the empty net in a manner eerily reminiscent of Andy Cole in the Stadio delle Alpi in that famous Champions League Semi-Final second leg of April 1999.

With Cofie looking to be the most dangerous player on the park in that opening forty-five minutes, Paul McGuinness’ decision to replace him with Ravel Morrison at the break was somewhat surprising. Whether there was an injury or illness involved we don’t know (Cofie missed the Malta trip through illness so may not be fully recovered), but whatever the reason, the decision was to be entirely vindicated thereafter.

The Reds immediately signalled their intent after the restart, with Petrucci coming to the fore after a relatively quiet first half. His eye-of-the-needle pass released Ajose to put in a cross that Keane was just able to direct goalwards, and the Italian then popped up on the right side of the box to turn Bolton’s leftback inside and out with some mesmeric dribbling and control before putting in a cross that was scrambled clear. A second United goal was imminent, and when it came on 52 minutes, the only surprise was that Petrucci wasn’t involved. Instead the architect was Will Keane, who skipped past two challenges outside the box before cleverly playing in Morrison, whose finish was the epitome of cool.

A third goal wasn’t long in coming either, and it was probably the pick of the bunch. Ajose seemed to lose the ball in attempting to dribble past his marker on the left-flank, but the 18 year-old’s persistence saw him regain possession at the byline and clip a cross to the back post, where an unmarked Tunnicliffe lashed a fearsome half-volley past the helpless Lynch and into the far corner.

With the game to all intents and purposes in the bag, Petrucci was withdrawn with another 69 valuable minutes under his belt, Larnell Cole taking his place in midfield. That wasn’t an indication of the Reds easing off though, far from it – just five minutes later they made it 4-0, and it was the newly-arrived substitute who did the honours. Cole’s pace allowed him to latch onto Keane’s fantastic through-ball, race clear of the defence and slide the ball past Lynch for his first goal at U18 level.

Bolton were entirely demoralised by this point, and the game had become one of those where every player on the dominant side fancies his chance of getting on the scoresheet, Alberto Massacci notable in this instance with a rampaging run forward and low strike that was well saved by Lynch. Morrison, by now going through his full repertoire of tricks, was also foiled by the Wanderers stopper.

In fairness to the visitors, they didn’t completely chuck the towel in. A rare foray forward earned them a corner, and from that they dashed United’s hopes of a clean sheet and at least bagged themselves a consolation goal, albeit in slightly fortuitous fashion. A right-wing corner was fizzed into the near post where it appeared to deflect off Sampson’s back and past Conor Devlin. The Bolton forward was a rumoured summer target for the Reds but had been largely starved off service on this occasion, and it’s unlikely that effort did too much to alleviate his frustration.

McGuinness’ side could have been forgiven for coasting through the last five minutes after that but almost seemed to take that consolation strike as an insult, pouring forward as the clock ticked down in a bid to restore their four-goal cushion. When Zeki Fryers burst into the box in the final minute looking for his own moment of glory, Bolton’s Eckersley presented the Reds with a chance to do just that from the penalty spot with an incredibly clumsy tackle on the United left-back. The referee somewhat harshly showed Eckersley the red card – there was at least one defender well-placed to cover – before Pogba, impressive again in midfield, converted the most nonchalant of spot-kicks to get off the mark as a United player and put the icing on a particularly flavoursome academy league cake.

STAR MAN: Will Keane – close run thing with any number of attacking players meriting consideration, but the Stockport-born forward gets the nod for another terrific display that saw him pick up his fifth goal in four games and set up another two for his teammates.

 
UNITED
1. Conor Devlin
2. Alberto Massacci
3. Zeki Fryers
4. Michele Fornasier
5. Tom Thorpe
6. Ryan Tunnicliffe
7. Will Keane
8. Paul Pogba
9. John Cofie (14. Ravel Morrison 46)
10. Davide Petrucci (c) (15. Larnell Cole 69)
11. Nicky Ajose (12. Sean McGinty 83)

Booked: Petrucci

Ref: A Young

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.

Match report to come…

 
UNITED
1. Ron-Robert Zieler
2. Ritchie de Laet
3. Joe Dudgeon (16. Febian Brandy 61)
4. Corry Evans (c)
5. Oliver Gill (12. Scott Wootton 54)
6. Matt James
7. Cameron Stewart
8. Oliver Norwood (14. Ryan Tunnicliffe 67)
9. Joshua King
10. Magnus Eikrem
11. Zoran Tošić

Booked: Gill

Sent Off: Wootton

Ref: ?

Attendance: 360

Man City: Nielsen, Trippier, Cunningham, Boyata, Mee, Tutte (Kay 86), Mak, Marshall, Poole, Nimely (Guidetti 81), McDermott (Ibrahim 46).
Unused: T Johansen, Moore

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.

Still only 14, Barmby has forced his way into Kenny Swain’s squad on the back of some impressive performances for the Reds in the pre-season Manchester United Premier Cup and in regular U16 games. A tall and skilful winger, the Essex-born youngster is a promising talent in his own right, but much of the focus will naturally be on his famous surname – father Nick, still playing for Hull City, accumulated 23 full England caps during a career that has seen him score in the top flight for six different clubs (Spurs, Middlesbrough, Everton, Liverpool, Leeds and Hull for trivia fans).

Barmby is the only United representative in the squad for Thursday’s game at Chester City’s Deva Stadium, although Reds U16 skipper Luke Hendrie (another son of a famous footballing father, former Bradford and Middlesbrough forward John) was named in the initial squad before later withdrawing. Centre-half Tyler Blackett, who along with Hendrie started England’s first Victory Shield match against Wales, hasn’t been included this time.

The game will be televised live on Sky Sports, and for those tuning in to keep an eye on the progress of England and Barmby, a couple of other players are worth keeping an eye on from a United perspective. QPR starlet Raheem Sterling, a late call-up to England’s squad, has been heavily linked with the Reds in the media in recent days – he is another attacker who is still just 14. On the other side, Northern Ireland centre-half Luke McCullough, of Portadown College, has spent time at United on trial and is still very much on the club’s radar.

Kick-off is at 7.40pm on Thursday, and anyone wanting to go along and watch the game can do so for £3 admission (£1 concessions). You can find all the necessary details here.

United’s Will Keane and his club colleagues Tom Thorpe, Sam Johnstone and Ravel Morrison have all played their part as three wins from three saw England Under-17s cruise through their First Qualifying Round for the 2010 U17 European Championships.

The Reds quartet were all included in John Peacock’s squad for the trip to Azerbaijan, where the Young Lions faced their Azeri hosts, Serbia and Kazakhstan for the right to progress to the Elite Qualifying Round, to take place next spring. A top-two finish in the group would be enough to qualify, but with all first-placed teams being seeded at the elite stage, the incentive was there for England (and indeed their rivals) to take top spot.

Peacock’s side got their campaign underway last Monday against the unfancied Kazakhs in the Azeri capital of Baku, duly roaring into an early 3-0 lead with goals from Everton’s Luke Garbutt and Arsenal’s Benik Afobe sandwiching a strike from our own Will Keane. Smooth sailing from then on you would have thought, but Kazakhstan had other ideas, a quickfire double around the half-hour mark trimming England’s lead to just the one goal at half-time. Any concerns that comeback may have aroused were duly eradicated after the break however as a brace from West Ham’s Robert Hall (on as substitute) and a second goal for Afobe secured a convincing 6-2 victory. Keane, Thorpe and Johnstone all completed the full ninety minutes, but Morrison had to settle for a watching brief from the bench.

Next up just two days later was a clash with the hosts, and when the Young Lions again raced into a 3-0 lead, there was to be no such hint of a comeback. All three first-half goals came from Ipswich Town prodigy Connor Wickham, whose replacement on the hour mark – the predatory Afobe – sealed the win with a fourth goal after 67 minutes. As Peacock shuffled his pack somewhat, it was Johnstone’s turn to endure a game on the bench, while Morrison this time made it on as a half-time replacement for Keane. Thorpe again completed the full game.

With the Azeris having held Serbia to a goalless draw, England had the luxury of going into their final game on Saturday knowing a draw would be enough to secure top spot and a place among the seeds for the Elite Round. The Serbs, a force in recent years at youth international level, had been something of a disappointment, following up that goalless opener by squeaking a narrow 1-0 win over Kazakhstan, and went into the clash with England knowing that a defeat would leave their grip on second place in the group vulnerable.

The Young Lions duly secured victory via a single Afobe goal, and the Serbs were left to thank their English opponents for defeating Azerbaijan so convincingly earlier in the week and thus doing sufficient damage to their goal difference to see Serbia through. Johnstone was restored to the starting lineup while Keane again started before being replaced by Morrison. After starting the first two games, Thorpe sat this one out.

The draw for the Elite Round will take place towards the end of the year, and England will be joined in the hat by the Republic of Ireland, who also won their group, Sean McGinty skippering the Irish side in all three games. Other United participation was limited, but Norway and France progressed without the injured Etzaz Hussain and ineligible Paul Pogba, who will likely come into consideration when the Elite Round matches come around next March.