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Under 18s Progress to the Next Round

Following the disappointment of the FA Trophy Third Qualifying Round tie against Boston United falling victim to a waterlogged pitch, a few hardy souls diverted to St Bride’s Field in Old Trafford to see the FC United of Manchester Youth Team take on Flixton Juniors in the second round of the Manchester County FA Youth Cup. Where despite considerable periods of rain, the game was played to a conclusion and saw the reds win 3-0.

Much of the early play was based on long balls which bypassed the midfield; and not surprisingly, the worst of the pitch. It was not until midway through the first half that we saw the first noteworthy chance and indeed the first goal. FC United were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box in a central position. The Flixton wall jumped as the freekick was taken and the low shot from Sam Freakes ricocheted to Josh Parkinson who fired home.

Shortly afterwards Sam was replaced by Ryan Lyons who having been cleared to play barely before kick-off, sought to create havoc down the right wing. Indeed it was one such raid early in the second half that saw Ryan cut in from the wing and fire a fierce drive goalwards. Despairing efforts by the Flixton keeper and a deflection by the number four failed to keep the ball out. Equally persuasive were the entreaties of Ryan to ensure that his first FC goal was not taken off him.

The scoring was completed soon after, Shaun Williams collected the ball on the edge of the FC box and set off on a run to the by-line which dazzled the Flixton defence and the watching crowd; Shaun’s strong shot from a tight angle proved too difficult for the keeper to handle.

FC United now progress to the last sixteen of the competition, won last year by many of the players now making up the youth team when previously representing Manchester Youth.

FC United of Manchester

1 Grant Shenton, 2 Ashley Reece, 3 Barry Davies, 4 Shaun Williams, 5 Nick Swirad, 6 Shaun Connor, 7 Mark Reeves, 8 Josh Parkinson, 9 Toby Iloba 10, John Buckley,
11, Sam Freakes. Substitutes: 12 Jamie Mack (for 3, 70mins), 14, Ryan Lyons (for 11, 30 mins), 16 Stephen Carson (for 2, 75 mins) not used 15 Andre Holder & 17 Alex Sutcliffe.
Goals: Parkinson, Lyons & Williams


First Posted ~ 14:43 Mon 24 Nov 2008
News ID ~ 1950
Last Updated ~ 01:52 Tue 16 Feb 2021