U18S: MANCHESTER UNITED 4 NEWCASTLE UNITED 0
Under-18 Premier League | J. Davidson Stadium | Scorers: Dearnley 6, Barlow 59, 67 pen., 80
Aidan Barlow scored a second-half hat-trick as United Under-18s preserved their 14-match undefeated league sequence and ensured a top-four finish with another fine home victory.
Barlow's triple plus an early strike from Zachary Dearnley gave Kieran McKenna's young Reds a comfortable win and guaranteed them a place in the top group when the competition enters its second stage next month.
It was a bitterly cold evening at Altrincham's J. Davidson Stadium, but the credit has to go to the Robins’ groundsman and his staff for the pitch was in pristine condition.
Snow had been threatening for much of the afternoon in South Manchester and just as the teams took the field quite heavy snow started to fall from the sky. It was a certainly wintry scene as the game started but the home team ignored the white stuff to start the contest in typically sprightly fashion.
Newcastle, wearing a change strip of black shirts with gold trim, also looked lively from the off, but they couldn’t prevent the Reds from moving into the lead in the 6th minute through a peach of a goal. Jake Kenyon provided an inch-perfect pass to Dearnley, who accepted the invitation to score with a cracking finish.
It was a promising start from McKenna's attacking side and they could easily have gone in at the break with a more commanding lead after creating a string of decent chances. With a stroke of luck, Nishan Burkart, Ethan Hamilton and Barlow could all have added their name to the first-half scoresheet.
The Reds eventually increased their lead in the 59th minute when Barlow finally put the ball over the line, in off Newcastle keeper Ben Smith, following a scramble in the goalmouth.
Eight minutes later and the hosts as good as secured the points when Barlow claimed his second goal of the night, from the penalty spot after he had been felled in the area.
Barlow completed his hat-trick ten minutes from time to round off another high-scoring triumph for the second-placed Reds, who have now netted at least four goals in a game on nine occasions in this exciting season.
United: Fojticek; Tanner, Warren, Dunne, Kenyon; Whelan, Hamilton; Dearnley (Sang 69), Barlow (Ercolani 90), Bohui (Spratt 83); Burkart.
Substitutes not used: Barrett, Johnstone M.
www.manutd.com