Manchester United U21s hosted Everton at Leigh Sports Village on Friday night in the first round of the Premier League 2 play-offs.
The top 16 sides in the league moved into the play-off rounds with 5th-placed United hosting 12th-placed Everton.
It was the visitors who took the lead within the opening minute. Poor defending allowed Everton to counter at pace which ended with striker Martin Sherif producing a wonder strike from 25 yards out into the bottom left corner.
It was a very slow start from United but Ethan Wheatley, on his return from a disappointing loan, provided a bit of class of his own to level it up at 1-1 in the 11th minute.
Wheatley did well to hold up Elyh Harrison’s long ball before getting the return pass from Sam Murray in the box, He then rounded the opposition keeper and finished into an open net.
Jack Moorhouse was one of the few bright spots for United in attack with his dribbling and ball carrying and arguably could have had a penalty when he took a hit charging into the box but chose to remain on his feet which saw the call not given.
Everton restored their lead in the 33rd minute, completely catching out United with a well-worked corner routine.
A deep delivery to Braiden Graham found the number 10 wide open to head back into the congested area for the ball to bounce off Sherif and in for his second of the match and to give Everton the lead going into the break.
Into the second half, the two number 9s were determined to match each other as Wheatley grabbed his second to make it 2-2 on the night.
Relentless pressing from the United man paid dividends as he stole the ball high up before smashing inside the far right post from a wide angle.
On the hour mark, a deep corner to Graham caught United out again leaving the Northern Ireland international free to volley on goal which was only kept out by a block on the line.
Jacob Devaney’s introduction helped shore up United in the midfield but it was the other two midfielders who combined to score United’s third.
Sekou Kone found Tyler Fletcher on the edge of the box who took it on the turn excellently to open the space and slot past the keeper.
Kone then finished the scoring himself with a long-range stunner which looked to have taken a slight deflection after Gabriele Biancheri’s lay off outside the box to seal a 4-2 win.
GOAL Kone scores for United. Manchester United 4-2 Everton #MUAcademy #MUNEVE #PL2 #LeighSportsVillage #ManchesterUnited #ManUtd #MUFC #Kone pic.twitter.com/IOkLO9lYJ6
— Benjamin Brazil (@bennymufc) April 25, 2025
The victory sees Travis Binnion’s side advance to the final eight where they will take on the winner of Sunderland and West Ham.
United: Harrison, Ogunneye, Jackson, Kukonki, Murray, Kone, T. Fletcher, Mantato (Devaney 68), Moorhouse, Scanlon, Wheatley (Biancheri 76)
Unused subs: Rowe, Musa, Munro
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Colm Murphy A football obsessed Canadian who moved to England to enjoy the beautiful game. Colm has been keen follower of Manchester United’s famed academy since seeing a fresh faced Adnan Januzaj for the club’s u18s and has been writing about football with a focus on youth development for over 10 years.
