Shea Lacey makes instant impact on return to action, but teammate scores first goal for Man Utd

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Manchester United’s U18 side were in action on Saturday, with Shea Lacey making his anticipated return to action.

The U18 Premier League title race remains firmly on for Adam Lawrence’s side after another ruthless victory, one week on from demolishing Leeds.

Last weekend saw Manchester United’s U18 side thrash Leeds 13-1, a result which saw several incredible individual performances.

This weekend, it was another mismatch, although not as blatant, as United beat Nottingham Forest 3-0 away from home to move two points behind Manchester City and the league title.

Only four games are remaining for United, and the title rests in the hands of City, who Lawrence needs to drop points in order to secure the crown for a second year running.

All United can do right now is keep winning and hope City drops points, and that is what happened on Saturday.

READ: Man Utd under-18s top scorers and assists in 2024/25, all results

Shea Lacey back on the pitch for Manchester United

United were away from home on Saturday, with a strong yet youthful side taking the field as players such as Gabriele Biancheri and James Scanlon starred for the U21s on Friday.

The U18s still had plenty of quality on show, however, with Amir Ibragimov opening the scoring in the second half after Forest proved stubborn in the opening half.

It was then James Overy who stepped up to make it 2-0 for his first United goal, assisted by Zach Baumann.

The scoring was rounded out by James Bailey, who converted a Shea Lacey assist to give United a comfortable 3-0 win.

It was Lacey’s first game back since February. This after his injury, problems have meant United have kept him back to avoid further setbacks.

• READ MORE: Who is Man Utd’s Shea Lacey? Age, Position, Stats and more

Lacey has an instant impact for Manchester United

The injury problems Lacey is having to go through are incredibly frustrating because every time he does play, he makes an impact.

That was the case on Saturday as he assisted for United just 16 minutes after his return from the substitutes bench.

Without injuries, there is no doubt that Lacey would be one of the players banging on the door of Amorim’s first tea, but the issues have not hindered his development.

The hope is that his struggles could be non-chronic and that – similarly to Jack Moorhouse – he will eventually overcome his injury problems for good.

Hopefully, now is the time this can happen.