Manchester United’s under-18s hosted Middlesbrough this morning following a change of location late in the week. With the match originally scheduled as a home game for Middlesbrough, the fixture was changed to take place in Carrington due to expected weather in the North East.
However, bad weather could not be completely avoided, as the Middlesbrough team bus was late, causing a 15-minute delay to the start.
The most surprising news ahead of the game, however, was the return of Willy Kambwala, the French centre-back who has spent much of the past two seasons injured. Having only recently recovered, Kambwala’s inclusion came as a shock, as he is actually a week old for the under-18 age group. It is not clear if United obtained special dispensation to field the over-age defender for the match.
The action on the pitch was just as exciting as well, as Boro played a perfect pass that split the defense to bring out Louis Jackson and put the left winger in goal, but Eric Hanbury came out quickly to pounce on the ball.
On 10 minutes, Boro’s Ajay Matthews found himself open in the box for a daring bicycle kick that nearly went over Hanbury, who barely managed to deflect the ball over the bar.
A minute later, Hanbury was reeling again as Boro fired a wide free kick and James Nolan’s header inadvertently swung back towards goal before hitting the post and out.
But the first goal would come at the other end soon after, when Ethan Wheatley received a gift from Boro goalkeeper Nathan Fisher. Wheatley crossed from the baseline straight to the goalkeeper, but Fisher allowed the ball to slip out of his hands and into the net.
Boro sought to deflect the ball with a low cross from the right that Hanbury peeled off the striker’s foot with a vital finger on the ball.
In the 24th minute, Jack Moorhouse’s incredible 60-yard run evaded four tackles but unfortunately ended with a blocked shot, a play that deserved to end in a goal for the midfielder.
United would double the tally before half-time through the hot Manni Norkett, who dispatched his seventh of the season. The striker latched on to a through ball and did well to keep the defender at bay to bring the ball to his left and past the keeper.
In the second half, Adam Berry came close with a long-range shot from the left that bounced and dipped just short of the keeper, forcing a fine save.
Soon after, Boro made a long-range attempt on the edge of the box from AJ Bridge that went wide of the left post.
United pounded on the counter-attack with Norkett’s pace down the left, driving into the box to find Moorhouse at the far post, who fired into the roof of the net, capping off a spectacular display from the young midfielder.
United would win 3–0, seeing them move up two places in the table to eighth, albeit still with several games in hand over the teams above them. United: Hanbury, Jackson, Kambwala, Aljofree, Nolan, Baumann (Ibragimov 65), Moorhouse, Berry, Musa, Wheatley (Scanlon 59), Norkett
Unused Substitutes: Wooster, Kamason, Munro
