Match Review: Manchester United U18s 5-2 Preston North End U18s
It was a game of two halves for the north-west rivals, with United dominating the first half and then easing up in the second - allowing PNE to strike back and cause the home side a little bit of a worry...
Manchester United U18s finished resounding winners at Leigh Sports Village as they beat Preston North End in the FA Youth Cup 4th Round.
United opened the scoring after just 6 minutes, with Chido Obi expertly putting James Scanlon through who then squared across the box towards Jack Fletcher and Victor Musa - with Fletcher being the lucky one able to stab at the ball and poke it home for 1-0.
Fletcher then became the assist maker with a lovely corner whipped in deep for Munro to nod home in the 12th minute, although Preston will feel disappointed that they failed to mark so glaringly.
More exciting play from Jack Fletcher saw the attacking mid run straight through the middle of the Preston team to have a shot on goal spurned, only to fall into the path of Chido Obi in the 25th minute for a tap in. 3-0 United.
Victor Musa and James Scanlon both came close to scoring in the following minutes (Scanlon AGAIN put through by an acute pass from Obi across his body, something of a calling card, lovely) but 7 minutes later and Obi himself would be at it again, doubling his total with a bold run towards the edge of the box and a rifled finish into the bottom corner. Top finish, and surely the kid's got to get a taste of the first team before the end of the season.
5 minutes after the restart and Rodriguez-Gentile would get Preston back into it with a tidy finish past Will Murdock, but in truth it was awful defensive awareness and composure from Dan Armer that put the Lilywhites' player in.
Not even 10 minutes later and Rodriguez-Gentile doubled his tally and started to worry United: a poor pass from Tyler Fletcher to Jayce Fitzgerald giving Rodriguez-Gentile a run at the box. The forward kindly squared across to PNE's no7 who was bundled over in a box scramble to block the shot, but the rebound fell to Rodriguez-Gentile to smash in to make it 4-2.
United kept attacking but Will Murdock had his work cut out with some clutch saves, and Reece Munro had a goalline clearance to aid with too. The Reds made subs, with the likes of Jim Thwaites entering the fray, but these players still needed to get up to game speed - and PNE were keeping the tempo up.
Nifty footwork in the 89th minute from attacker Amir Ibragimov earned United a penalty at the death, and graciously Chido Obi - on for a hat-trick - let his teammate take the spot kick to make it 5-2.
