Powerful 17-year-old winger matched JJ Gabriel stride for stride in huge u18s victory as Carrick watched on

Manchester United Under-18s hosted Derby County Under-18s on Wednesday for a lunchtime kick-off at Carrington.

The two sides clashed last month in the FA Youth Cup, which took extra time for United to seal the win after a stellar performance from Derby keeper Cristiano Dzialuk.

There were a number of notable spectators at Carrington for the match today, including Michael Carrick and his backroom staff, as well as United legends Wayne Rooney and John O’Shea.

First half

United started strongly, as Welsh striker Louie Bradbury gave the young Red Devils the lead in just the sixth minute. Jacob Watson’s corner delivery was spilled by the keeper before Jay McEvoy poked the ball back across the face of goal for Bradbury to finish from close range.

Noah Ajayi came into the match in fine form and made an early impact, linking up with Watson to feed the defender into the box, but the left-back’s effort was saved at the near post.

Darren Fletcher’s side were in control throughout much of the half, but the visitors looked to hit on the counter, forcing a goal-line clearance from Albert Mills in the 25th minute.

Two minutes later, Mills cleared off the line again after Cameron Byrne-Hughes was caught rushing out of his goal, but this time Mills could only clear back to Derby’s Sean Corry, who drew the match level at 1-1.

In the 41st minute, Ajayi was hacked down in the box to earn a penalty, which was superbly dispatched into the roof of the net by JJ Gabriel.

Gabriel returned the favour moments before the break, taking down Mills’ diagonal ball on the left wing before slipping it inside to Ajayi, who unleashed a piledriver from 25 yards past Dzialuk.

Second half

Gabriel opened up the Derby backline with some magical footwork early in the half but saw his shot fly across the goal and narrowly wide.

Bradbury scored his second of the match in the 66th minute, collecting the ball after Gabriel was tackled and quickly striking into the bottom left corner from the edge of the box.

Minutes later, Derby were awarded a penalty of their own when Byrne-Hughes came sliding out of his goal and looked to win the ball, but the referee adjudged it to be a foul. The United keeper made up for it, making a big save to deny Israel Green.

Manchester United ran away with it by the end, as Gabriel ran at the heart of the Derby defenders, who backed off until the 15-year-old picked his spot in the bottom left corner.

Ajayi rounded off the scoring in the 81st minute—his fourth goal in three appearances—with what was the pick of the bunch.

Running all the way from the halfway line, Ajayi made his way inside the box, skipping between two defenders before finishing low to make it 6-1.

United now turn their attention to next week’s Premier League Cup semi-final, where they will host West Ham United.

Match facts

Manchester United: Byrne-Hughes; Helafu, Mills, Armer (c), J. Watson; McEvoy (McCormack 76), Shah (D. Nkoto 59); Brown (B. Nkoto 70), Gabriel, Ajayi; Bradbury (Rooney 70)

Unused subs: Heath

Scorers: Bradbury 6, 67; Gabriel 41 (pen), 73; Ajayi 45, 81

Booked: McEvoy

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