Albion Under 18s eliminate Manchester United from FA Youth Cup
Brighton and Hove Albion’s Under 18s have done what the first team couldn’t do and won away at Manchester United.
The Seagulls eliminated the most successful side in FA Youth Cup history from the competition, a 3-1 win at Leigh Sports Village ensuring that it is the Albion and not the 10-time winners who advance to the fifth round.
This was a hugely impressive result against a United side packed with some of the most talented young players in the country. The hosts included among their number Mason Greenwood and James Garner, who have been involved in Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s first team squad in recent weeks and they’d eliminated Chelsea in the last round, becoming the first side to do so since 2013 with the Blues having won the competition for the past five seasons in succession.
Garner hit the bar with a free kick early on with the Albion taking a leaf out of the Chris Hughton play book and sitting deep, soaking up pressure and trying to play on the counter – the difference being that Under 18’s managers Mark Beard and Mikey Harris had selected some pace in attack.
The game plan worked perfectly. Brighton took the lead inside of six minutes through a Peter Gwargis penalty and eight minutes later Ryan Longman scored with a stunning strike after cutting in from the left flank.
Brighton goalkeeper Roco Rees – who sounds like a character from Grand Theft: Auto Vice City – denied both Greenwood and Garner as United sought a way back into the tie.
Their hopes of doing so were pretty much ended just before the hour mark, Longman heading a Gwargis free kick against the bar with Haydon Roberts bundling home the loose ball to make it 3-0.
United did eventually get onto the score sheet but it was too little, too late as Di’shon Bernard tapped home a rebound in the final minute after Rees had made another excellent save.
Brighton’s victory is just the latest impressive achievement chalked up by the academy sides so far this season. The Under 23s continue to be in title contention and Viktor Gyökeres, Max Sanders and Arron Connolly have all been named on the first team bench. Connolly’s goal scoring form has seen him linked with a move to Hoffenheim as well as being named the Premier League 2’s Player of the Month for November.
In terms of the Under 18s, this is probably the most famous result in the FA Youth Cup for the Albion since they knocked Chelsea out of the competition in the 2005-06 season.
Over 4,000 people turned up to Withdean on a night in which the club envisioned a couple of hundred spectators, resulting in a desperate scramble to get the stadium’s North West Corner open and then the South Stand as more and more supporters began arriving.
Seven of Dean Wilkins’ side who won 2-1 that night went onto play first team football with the Albion but with the Seagulls now a Premier League club and breaking through tougher than ever, those who have just toppled United will be hard-pressed to make it as a pro at the Amex.
Not one academy product has become a first team regular under Hughton in the Albion manager’s four years in charge so far, with Solly March the last player to break through in 2013. In this decade, March and Lewis Dunk are the only two home-grown regulars the Albion have managed to produce.
The appointment of Dan Ashworth as Technical Director should help create a pathway from youth system to first team and it’s high time that the highly-funded academy finally started delivering some Premier League-standard players.
With the mighty Manchester United vanquished, perhaps that day isn’t far away.
