Burnley so unlucky to bow out of Youth Cup

Last updated : 16 December 2013 By Tony Scholes

You expect Manchester United to have a strong team and you probably expect us to lose cup ties against them, but with last season's heroic Old Trafford victory still fresh in the mind we came so much closer to repeating it than the scoreline suggests.

For much of the game we were the better side, but we fell to two brilliant second half goals that, in the end, proved to be the difference between the sides.

Luke Daly had an excellent game in midfield

In a goalless first half we were head and shoulders better than our illustrious opponents, and with a little more luck would have got ourselves in front. We had control of the midfield whilst down the flanks both Brad Jackson and Christian Hill were causing all sorts of problems for our visitors.

Former United schoolboy Luke Daly, now in his second full season with Burnley and in fine form, almost gave us an early lead. He hit a shot from outside the box that was cleared off the line by a United defender, the first of a number of goal line clearances on the night.

Jamie Frost forced a save out of goalkeeper Joel Pereira soon after but we just couldn't get that breakthrough. Young Khius Metz had the best opportunity after a really good move down the right between Jackson and Cameron Dummigan ended with the Northern Ireland right back pulling the ball back for Metz. Unfortunately Metz, still a schoolboy, saw his shot go just over.

Nothing much changed after the break and two more good saves from United's goalkeeper kept the score at 0-0. He saved well from Kevin Ly. HIs clearance reached Alex Whitmore who tested him with a shot from not too far over the half way line, but again he was able to save.

Just a few minutes later and Metz all but gave us the lead with a top effort from the right hand side. It looked to be curling in but cleared the woodwork by inches and when Frost saw a shot go wide you wondered just when the goal might come.

We didn't have to wait long but it was at the other end as Andreas Pereira unleashed a rocket from some 25-yards out. Conor Mitchell had no hope of keeping it out as it flew into the far top corner.

Ntumba Massanka came on for the tiring Metz and he gave us a lift with a couple of excellent runs, but then it all went against us again. United were awarded a throw in on their left that clearly should have gone our way. What happened next though was brilliant.

Christian Hill caused United a lot of problems down the flanks

James Wilson picked up the ball from the throw, still some way inside his own half, and went on a storming run past our defenders who were helpless to stop him. The best was still to come though as he got past the last challenge, rounder Mitchell and scored as good an individual goal as I've seen all season.

I was really concerned at this point. I feared our heads might drop in last 20 minutes, but I needn't have worried as we charged forward in waves to try and get back into it.

Quite how we didn't get at least one goal I don't know. They defended well; they had some luck, they cleared another couple off the line and goalkeeper Pereira made two more good saves.

So, out of the competition at the first hurdle, but we can hold our heads up tonight after what really was another excellent performance against one of the country's biggest clubs renowned for their youth system.

The teams were;

Burnley: Conor Mitchell, Cameron Dummigan, Callum Richardson, Alex Whitmore, Waqas Azam, Brad Jackson, Luke Daly, Kevin Ly (Nathan Lowe 75), Christian Hill, Khius Metz (Ntumba Massanka 71), Jamie Frost. Subs not used: Callum Jakovlevs, Charlie Holt, Evan Galvin.

Manchester United: Joel Pereira, Saidy Janko, Callum Evans, Ryan McConnell, Benjamin Barber, Matthew Willock, Sean Goss, Joshua Harrop, Andreas Pereira, Devonte Redmond (Ashley Fletcher 65), James Wilson. Subs not used: Dean Henderson, Demetri Mitchell, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Marcus Rashford.

Referee: Tom Nield (West Yorkshire).

Attendance: 1,489.