Manchester United’s strong end-of-season form in the U18 Premier League North continued with an away victory over Nottingham Forest.
Three points maintains positive momentum for Adam Lawrence’s young Reds, who have responded excellently to FA Youth Cup semi-final defeat a fortnight ago and are hot on the tails of rivals Manchester City in the title race.
City now lead by two points, with the teams level on games played and United ahead by one on goal difference, meaning we require results elsewhere to go our way if we’re to taste ultimate success, as we did last season.
Either way, the experience of being in another title race will be a highly valuable one for our young players.
“It was a good, tough win,”
reflected lead coach Adam Lawrence.
“In the first half, we had a lot of possession and a lot of territory and we got better as we went on in terms of creating chances, but we knew we needed to do more in the second half. Forest were 5-4-1 out of possession, narrow, compact, in a low block and trying to play on the counter, so for us it was about showing the right patience on the ball but penetrating at the right moments and finding that balance between the two.”
United came close on a couple of occasions, with Forest’s goalkeeper Ally Graham coming up equal to a strong Victor Musa header and a well-worked pull-back from Sam Lusale evading his team-mates.
After the break, the Reds kicked into gear, although were thankful for an excellent one-on-one save from Will Murdock to keep the scores level.
United steadily built pressure, showing good patience in our play, to tire Forest out and force gaps to open up.
“After half-time, the goal was coming,”
said Lawrence.
“We put more pressure on their defensive line, managed to get them squeezed right down, got more extreme in the second half, forcing them to camp in on the edge of the box. Then we just had to find a way in.”
The route in required intensity, focus and a bit of a gamble. After a clever ball towards Zach Baumann was headed clear, Amir Ibragimov pounced on the edge of the box, got contact on the shot and watched it deflect away from Graham and into the Forest net.
If the opener required some fortune — even if it came from good reactions and intent — United’s next goals were of real quality.
Overy’s was a fine finish, as he shifted the ball onto his left foot inside the box and bent it into the far left corner.
In added time, Musa fed substitute Shea Lacey in neatly and the winger capped off a smart run with a well-weighted pull-back for the on-running Bailey. Having scored with a thunderous effort against Leeds last week, Bailey this time offered accuracy, tucking it in just inside the post with his right boot.
“Those are two really good goals,”
enthused Lawrence.
“They are really good individual finishes. But this wasn’t about individual performances. The biggest thing we were pleased with was the lack of panic in the team. We kept probing, didn’t get frustrated, moved it well, believed in our style, kept playing properly and eventually found a way in. It’s a good lesson for the boys, to have that patience and then manage the game well. A team job, well done.
“The bigger picture stuff is that we’ve improved our goal difference again, there are four games to go, City are two points ahead and we are where we need to be. We’ll take each game as it comes. We’ve got a really tough opponent on Friday in Derby, so we’ll start preparing and be ready for that.”
MATCH DETAILS
United: Murdock; Overy, Ngwashi (Mills 70), Armer, Plunkett; Devaney, Baumann (Bailey 73); Lusale (Ajayi 84), Ibragimov (Lacey 74), Thwaites; Musa.
Unused subs: Byrne-Hughes.
Goals: Ibragimov 61, Overy 68, Bailey 90+1.
Booked: Thwaites.