Man United U18s beat Sunderland to finish as league's joint top-scorers

Manchester United U18s finished the season with a 3-1 victory over Sunderland in the U18 Premier League North on Saturday afternoon.

The away side started on the front foot, with Bayley Hester coming close to scoring in the opening minute before they grabbed the lead a minute later.

Samuel-Ogunsuyi combined with Felix Scott, whose deflected shot could not be kept out by goalkeeper Cameron Byrne-Hughes.

United reacted positively to going behind. Forward Shea Lacey made a run from deep before firing wide and had another shot deflected for a corner.

Sunderland goalkeeper Ben Metcalf made a one-on-one save, preventing forward Sam Lusale from scoring his first goal of the season.

Zach Baumann came close to setting up Lacey for the equaliser, but the forward’s effort was deflected wide.

Midfielder Amir Ibragimov headed the resulting corner home, rising high to nod Jim Thwaites’ in-swinging delivery into the net.

Centre-back Albert Mills gave the Red Devils the lead in the 41st minute, heading Thwaites’ free-kick past Metcalf.

Thwaites struck the post from the edge of the box while Metcalf denied Lusale and Lacey from extending the home side’s lead.

Byrne-Hughes was forced to make a save to preserve United’s lead as the Black Cats threatened to score from a counter-attack before the end of the first half.

United struggled to create chances at the start of the second half, with Sunderland defending in numbers.

The away side had an attempt to restore parity through midfielder Jack Whittaker, whose long-range strike was saved by Byrne-Hughes.

United were forced to play the rest of the game with 10 men when defender Dante Plunkett was brought off due to an injury after Adam Lawrence had exhausted all his substitutes.

Deep into stoppage time, striker Victor Musa sealed United’s victory to finish the season as United’s top scorer with 16 goals.

United finished the season in second place, two points behind division winners Manchester City, but managed to score 90 goals, the same as the Cityzens.

Article written by Henry Thornton .