U18's : Beating City and lifting the title

Manchester United U18's beat Manchester City U18's at Leigh Sports Village on Saturday afternoon. A great achievement by coach Kieran McKenna, his staff and the teenagers who have played so vibrantly throughout the season. Manchester United were dominant all season. Played 25, Wins 16, Drew 3, Lost 6, Scored 69, Conceeded 39.The quality of football and the swagger they displayed, more than justifies this league title. The league table currently looks like :

Under-18 League North

14 April 2018 P GD PTS

1 United 21 +33 48

2 Everton 21 +12 37

3 Liverpool 20 +16 35

4 Man City 19 +20 33

5 Stoke 20 +11 31

6 Sunderland 19 -4 28

7 Derby 19 +4 27

8 Newcastle 19 -7 23

9 West Brom 18 -9 22

10 Middlesbrough 18 -17 19

11 Wolves 20 -22 16

12 Blackburn 20 -37 10

On Saturday, 14 April 2018, only Manchester City stood between United and the title. Leigh Sports Village started to fill as Kieran McKenna's boys were going through their warmups. The game started and United kept possession and controlled the tempo of the game. Fans were cheering the young Reds as they displayed their talents on the pitch. 9 minutes in and Nishan Burkart swept down the right wing and fired an angled drive past City keeper Curtis Anderson. United were 1-0 up. Deservedly.

United took the game to the Blues and were getting in good positions only lacking vision at the end. City started getting a foothold in the game as minutes went by. Attempts from Felix Nmecha and Tommy Doyle on Matej Kovar’s goal weren’t very far away.

At halftime, United were 1-0 up.

Second half began, as the game was finely in balance. At 57 minutes, Ethan Galbraith hit home an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box resulting in a goal. United's title celebrations began as they had a 2 goal cushion over their city rivals.

Celebrations took a serious hit as Brandon Williams scored an own-goal from a corner barely a minute later. The 2 goal cushion was lost.

The boys held on to the score line as McKenna made a couple of substitutions. This introduction of fresh legs helped United further and the game was getting away from U18 Manchester City side. Largie Ramazani who came on for Mason Greenwood had a late penalty shout for United which was not given by the referee. United were comfortable and held on until the final whistle.

Celebrations and title party began at full time as the young reds clinched the Northern title with one game against Liverpool U18's left to play.

United will now meet Chelsea, the southern champions, in the national final.

Senior established players from the first team like Ashely Young, Michael Carrick and Chris Smalling congratulated the young lads on their achievement. Academy graduates and local lads Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard congratulated the win over City and also emphasized how important these wins are ,as they've been through that as well.

Manchester United's social networking accounts posted on full time.

#MUFC #MUFCFAMILY #ManUtd #ManchesterUnited #U18 #U18Champions