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Manchester United u16s kicked off their trip to Northern Ireland for the SuperCupNI on Monday night as they took on County Fermanagh.
United were on the front foot from the off as they bombarded Fermanagh’s box early on with a flurry of shots that were blocked causing a scramble in the box before Rafe McCormack ultimately looped an effort over the bar.
In the 10th minute, a diagonal ball from Connor Thorley found Douka Nkoto drifting in behind the left back to take down onto his left foot and drill low into the far left bottom corner.
United had truly pinned Fermanagh back as they struggled to get out of their half but with 10 men behind the ball, they were able to limit United’s attempts on goal.
Late in the half with United playing higher and higher up the pitch, there was acres of space in behind for Fermanagh to hit on the counter and threatened to do so on one occasion until Godwill Kukonki expertly tracked back and thwarted the chance with a perfectly timed slide tackle.
The score remained 1-0 to United at the break but the 35 minute half was largely one way traffic.
Within one minute of the restart Louie Bradbury broke free to run through on the keeper who was quick out to clear his lines with a sliding challenge but the ball fell to Noah Ajayi to strike at the open net but he couldn’t find the target from the edge of the box.
Bendito Mantato began to find his rhythm in the second half as he dribbled past the Fermanagh defence one after another but he soared his shot over the bar in the 44th minute.
Douka Nkoto had an impressive night and perhaps his best moment came in the 55th minute when he took the ball on the turn in midfield and immediately fired it out to Mantato who challenged with the defender who couldn’t clear which allowed Mantato to run through and slot low past the keeper.
Douka then almost created a goal for his twin brother Bassirou when he enticed the keeper out of his goal to the left side before clipping the ball over to Bassirou at the back post but his brother’s headed attempt went wide of the post.
The goal of the night came in the 70th minute when Edward Ibrovic-Fletcher picked up the ball from 25 yards out and smashed it into the top right corner.
Seconds later, Mantato added his second just before the final whistle as he rounded the keeper to make it 4-0.
Manchester United opened the SuperCupNI with a 4-0 win over County Fermanagh
⚽️ Douka Nkoto
⚽️⚽️ Bendito Mantato
⚽️ Edward Ibrovic-Fletcherpic.twitter.com/CrXTib5x01— Manchester United Academy (@RedYouthUnited) July 22, 2024
United now take on Skouted FC on Tuesday night, a grassroots club founded by former United academy graduate Febian Brandy.
United: Watson, Helafu (Watson 65), Mills (Ngwashi 60), Kukonki, Thorley (Shah 60), McCormack, Nkoto, Mantato, Nkoto (Ibrovic-Fletcher 60), Barbosa (Ajayi 36), Bradbury (Brown 60)
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