Manchester United’s U18s missed their first trophy of the season due to sheer wastefulness as they lost on penalties vs Crystal Palace after drawing 1-1 in extra time.
Darren Fletcher’s young Red Devils weathered an early storm to stay 0-0, and their quality eventually shone with a goal made by JJ Gabriel’s press, Chido Obi’s assist, and Noah Ajayi’s goal.
Palace threatened to come back into the game, but the best chances still fell to United. Ultimately, they lived to regret it as Mills was sent off in injury time, and Palace equalised from the spot.
United did much better than expected with ten players, having the best chances to win the game but the wastefulness continued, leading to a penalty shootout, won 6-5 by Palace after Kukonki missed his pen.
Live through all the action as it happened on this Man Utd U18s vs Crystal Palace U18s live blog.
Cameron Byrne-Hughes – 8
Not much to do until late when Palace had a man advantage in extra-time. Made some brilliant saves.
Yuel Helafu – 8
Performed his inverted full-back role to perfection with and without the ball.
Albert Mills – 6.5
Tasked with covering for Armer’s ambitious runs, he did so with good, old-school defending until a terrible decision late on saw him get sent off for a last-man challenge.
Daniel Armer – 7.5
Took risks with the ball by carrying and passing, but didn’t let his defensive effort drop.
Godwill Kukonki – 8
Brilliantly used his physicality to snuff out attacks and overlapped with purpose. Unfortunately missed the penalty in his shootout to condemn United to runners-up status.
Rafe McCormack – 6.5
Palace gave him plenty of time and space on the ball, but he couldn’t do much with it. Slightly too eager to tackle in defence.
Jim Thwaites – 8
Was double, or triple-marked in midfield but still managed to shine on set-pieces and with combination plays with Gabriel.
JJ Gabriel – 9
Ran his socks off defensively to make an impact, and tested the goalkeeper too. The opener arrived due to his hard work.
Nathaniel Brown – 7
Some nice touches but often made the wrong decision in the final third.
Noah Ajayi – 9
His two-footedness makes him unstoppable as he scored United’s opener. Deserved a win and he would have likely got it had he stayed on the pitch instead of getting injured.
Chido Obi – 7.5
Smartly assisted Ajayi’s goal. Often visibly frustrated at his teammates for not passing to him. Very wasteful when chances did fall to him.
Subs
Samuel Lusale – 7.5
Brilliant dribbling skills. Had Palace defenders on their toes every time.
Amir Ibragimov – 8
Returned after a long injury layoff and immediately looked promising. Created one great chance.
James Overy – 7
Solid in defence, silky in possession.
Jay McEvoy – 7
Came on late to shore up the midfield. Should have scored in extra-time.
Fred Heath – 6
Came on at the end of extra time as a penalty shootout specialist. Didn’t save any.
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A painful loss on penalties…
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