Jordy Hiwula had given City the lead after 16 minutes with a tap-in after great work from Devante Cole, before James Wilson levelled the score for Warren Joyce’s Reds with the final kick of the first half.
Wilson went on to hit three more in a dominant second half for
United, meaning that United lifted the Robinson’s Brewery trophy for the
fourth successive year.
City had reached the final by defeating Oldham and Rochdale in the
group stages, with the latter match holding special significance to Patrick Vieira and his charges.
A penalty shootout win over Rochdale in October 2013
kicked-off a stunning 13-game unbeaten run for the Elite Development
Squad, which saw them qualify for the end of season league play-offs and
the final of the Premier League Cup.
Vieira would have hoped that victory over a familiar foe and a first
piece of silverware in management would fuel a similar run with the
Barclays u21 Premier League getting under way away at Chelsea a week on
Friday.
Rumours that Manuel Pellegrini
would field a selection of his returning World Cup stars which had
circulated on social media in the build-up to the game proved to be well
wide of the mark, as the EDS boss picked a familiar-looking young side
for the night’s game.
The Frenchman opted to keep faith with the central defensive partnership he’s fielded for most of pre-season, teaming up Kean Bryan and Pablo Maffeo, with Angelino and Mathias Bossaerts on either side in the full-back berths in front of Angus Gunn.
George Glendon,
scorer of the winning goal last time these teams met in January, wore
the captain’s armband at the base of a midfield three alongside Parisian
duo, Seko Fofana and Olivier Ntcham.
2012/13 top-scorer Jose Angel Pozo
started his first competitive game since recovering from the ankle
injury which kept him out for the most part of the previous campaign.
The Spanish youth international started on the left of an attacking
trident, with Cole starting on the right and the in-form Hiwula in the
central no.9 role.
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