Manchester United u18s demolish Norwich City in behind closed doors friendly | OneFootball

Manchester United u18s hosted Norwich City u18s at Carrington on Saturday as they continued their pre-season preparations.

The match was played behind closed doors without spectators but The Peoples Person can reveal that United came out comfortable victors.

The goals were free flowing for Darren Fletcher’s side with the final score line understood to be either 6-0 or 7-0.

A week on from blowing away QPR 8-2 in their pre-season opener, Fletcher has hit the ground running with the u18s and looks to have them continuing their dominance in recent years under Adam Lawrence.

Match Events

First year scholar Louie Bradbury scored a brace on the day as he continued to bring his incredible scoring record at u16s level up to the u18s.

Latching onto a free ball after a Norwich defender’s tackle, Bradbury opened his account with a snapshot from 12 yards out into the bottom left corner.

Bradbury then doubled his tally when he was found through the eye of the needle by Jay McEvoy to set him through on goal, where he rounded the keeper before finishing into the open net.

Jim Thwaites provided the third goal of the match with an incredible long range effort after cutting inside from the left channel.

Known for his free-kick goals, Thwaites showed he is just as capable scoring in open play. The 17 year old is expected to be a key figure for the academy this season after impressing Ruben Amorim on the post-season tour of Asia.

Another classy midfielder, Edward Ibrovic-Fletcher cut inside and out to make space from the two covering Norwich defenders before firing low past the keeper.

14 year old Bassirou Nkoto also added his name to the score sheet, meanwhile the remaining scorers have not been confirmed.

The comfortable victory and impressive performances from several of the first year scholars stepping up from last year’s u16s bodes well for United and Fletcher as they look to regain the u18s Premier League North title from rivals Manchester City.

Remaining Pre-Season Fixtures

The u18s will now take on Swansea City next week before finishing off their pre-season against Watford. Many from the group will then make up an u19s contingent which will travel to Croatia to take part in the Mladen Ramljak Memorial Tournament for the third year in a row. Making it to the finals on both occasions, United have fell at the final hurdle to hosts Dinamo Zagreb in 2024 and to a Robin van Persie managed Feyenoord side in 2023. Elsewhere, United’s u21s continue their pre-season with matches to come against Charlton Athletic, Fleetwood Town, and Rochdale. Featured image James Fearn via Getty Images Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social