3 min read
27th Jan 2025
Wolves 0 Manchester United 1 (Kamason 51)
Wolves under-18s came up just short at home against high-flyers Manchester United under-18s in a tightly fought contest in the U18 Premier League on Saturday.
Jaydan Kamason’s goal early in the second half separated the sides after 90 minutes, with the game being quite cagey up until that point before opening up once the visitors had taken the lead.
The first quarter of an hour saw a couple half chances that weren’t threatening to either goalkeeper before Saheed Olagunju decided to step out with the ball from the Wolves defence and play in Minkyu Ji, whose left-footed effort went just wide.
Both sides started to open up more during the latter stages of the first half with the undefeated United side creating a couple of chances of their own, with their best of the bunch coming after 25 minutes when Jack Fletcher’s cross was met with a volley that went over the bar from forward Victor Musa.
The Old Gold came closest to breaking the deadlock in the 37th minute with Myles Dayman’s corner finding Elvis Elendu, but his header connected with the bar and kept the score level at 0-0.
Half-time | Wolves 0-0 Manchester United
Six minutes into the second half, Manchester United broke down their right side and full-back Kamason drove into the penalty area and his low, drilled shot found its way under Josh Gracey and into the Wolves goal to take the lead.
The visitors then started to pile the pressure on for the next 10 minutes or so as they tried to double their lead but their efforts to take the game out of the hosts’ reach were unfruitful, with their best chance during this period of play coming from James Bailey after he won the ball on the edge of the Wolves box before his shot was smartly saved by Gracey.
The last 20 minutes saw a lot more of an end-to-end feel to the game with Wolves creating chances that could have got them back in the game, starting with Olagunju once again stepping out from defence and making a run down the left wing with his cross finding Jake Wilcox but his shot rolled along the ground and was comfortably saved by William Murdock.
Wolves created one more chance with substitute Reiss Bowen receiving the ball just outside United’s box with his back to goal. He was able to turn his man, but his left-footed shot went just over the bar and that was the last good chance of the game for either side which meant the visitors continued the impressive record of winning every game this season in U18 Premier League.
Full-time | Wolves 0-1 Manchester United
NEXT THREE
01/02 Blackburn Rovers (A) U18 Premier League
08/02 Middlesborough (H) U18 Premier League
15/02 Derby County (A) U18 Premier League
LINEUPS
Wolves | Gracey, Voice, Elendu (Senyah 70), Olagunju, Dayman, Rawlings, Marwa, White, McLeod (Bowen 44), Wilcox (Ford 83), Ji.
Subs not used | Grieves, Gidaree.
Manchester United | Murdock, Plunkett (Mills 69), Munro, Kamason, Armer, T.Fletcher, Ibragimov (Bradbury 88), Thwaites, Fitzgerald, J. Fletcher (Bailey 39), Musa.
Subs not used | Byrne-Hughes.
Report by Rivaan Athwal
