U18s: United 4 Stoke City 0

Victor Musa opened the scoring for the young Reds with just over quarter of an hour played, which remained the difference between the two sides at the halfway point.

Our no.9 then notched a penalty just before the hour mark to make it two after Dante Plunkett was brought down in the box.

An own goal and a precise from JJ Gabriel in the final 10 minutes put the game beyond doubt, sealing all three points for Adam Lawrence's side.

Stoke raced out of the blocks at the start of the game when Ryan Liu found himself through on goal inside the first minute, only to be denied by a strong early save by Cameron Byrne-Hughes.

We looked to be in for an end-to-end affair when the young Reds raced up the other end moments later, the ball this time fell to Musa, who saw his effort turned behind by the goalkeeper.

Our no.9 did get another chance to impact the first-half scoreline, however.

James Overy began a run from right-back after a quick one-two, was invited to charge into a central area by the Potters' defence which he duly did. He spotted Musa making a run in behind and picked him out with a neat through ball, which the Reds striker dispatched first time into the bottom left corner to give United the lead at the break.

Musa doubled our lead on the other side of half-time from the spot, after the opposition's goalkeeper was judged to have kicked through the back of Plunkett following a bouncing back pass.

United were in control of the game throughout the second period, aside from a moment of fear when Potters forward Elliot Fearn saw his cross collide with the bar and back into play.

But the young Reds soon stretched further into the lead, with substitute Gabriel seeing one of his efforts hit the woodwork, this time deflecting into the net off Lee Williams for our third.

Finally, to cap off an assured display from Adam Lawrence's side, Gabriel got his name on the scoresheet in the final moments, cutting in from the left before curling a shot around the reach of Chivers and into the bottom-right.

MATCH DETAILS

United: Byrne-Hughes; Overy, Mills (Armer 64), Munro (c) (Ngwashi 61), Plunkett; Baumann; Ibragimov (Gabriel 72), Bailey; Lacey (Lusale 46), Musa, Thwaites (Fitzgerald 72).

Goals: Musa 16, 57 (pen), Williams 84 (O.G), Gabriel 90+1.

SECURE YOUR TICKETS

Our Under-21s progressed into the Premier League 2 play-off quarter-finals with a 4-2 win over Everton last Friday night.

They face West Ham United at Leigh Sports Village in the next round, and you can be there to watch the action live!

Kick-off is scheduled for a 15:00 BST on Bank Holiday Monday (5 May). Buy your tickets here!