Joe Hugill.

Why Hugill has entered the record books

Wednesday 03 February 2021 17:10

Manchester United striker Joe Hugill wrote his name into the record books with his four-goal haul for the Under-23s at Liverpool last weekend.

The 17-year-old helped Neil Wood's Reds record a 6-3 victory on Merseyside in Premier League 2 and Hugill's individual contribution certainly ranks highly in terms of how any Red has performed against our fiercest rivals.

Indeed, research by historian Tony Park, known as @MrMUJAC on Twitter, suggests only one other player has struck four times in a single game with Liverpool.

U23s highlights: Liverpool 3 United 6 Video

U23s highlights: Liverpool 3 United 6

See all the goals from MUTV's coverage of our Under-23s' superb victory at Liverpool...

The man in question is Steve Jones, who scored four in a 7-4 victory for the B-team back in August 1977. He was born in Liverpool and was a schoolboy at the Anfield club, going on to play for Port Vale after leaving United.

There may have been others who have done it in younger-age football that is not officially logged but Tony's thorough research includes the Reserves and A and B-teams, in addition to the Under-18s. 

Of course, there have been hat-tricks against the Merseysiders at first-team level, most recently Dimitar Berbatov's memorable heroics in a 3-2 success at Old Trafford in September, 2010.

Stan Pearson is the other Red to have scored a treble in the senior fixture since the World War II while Joe Spence, Sandy Turnbull and Jack Peters also managed the feat.

Video
Watch Dimitar Berbatov's hat-trick goal against Liverpool in 2010.

At Reserves level, Alex Dawson and Ken McDowell will have had a battle for the match-ball after hitting three apiece in a 7-5 triumph in February 1960, while Dennis Fidler (1956), Barry Grayson (1963) and Colin McKee (1992) grabbed trebles for the A-team in the big fixture.

In addition to Jones, Paul Wheatcroft claimed a hat-trick in a 6-3 success for the B-team back in 1997.

It all adds up to the fact that Hugill is the only Manchester United player to have scored four or more goals for the club above youth level, certainly since World War II.

Stan Pearson hit a hat-trick against Liverpool in a 5-0 win in September, 1946.

Hugill will hope to feature again when the Under-23s take on Blackburn Rovers in a home Premier League fixture on Friday at Leigh Sports Village.

The 19:00 GMT kick-off will be shown live on MUTV.

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