Crystal Palace U18

English U18 Premier League Cup

Manchester City

Premier League

Crystal Palace

Selhurst Park

Leeds United

Elland Road

Tottenham Hotspur

Manchester United U18

Total shots

Shots on target

Corners

Passes completed

Free kicks

Offsides

## Summary

- Two changes to the side, with Hill making his debut in goal

- Palace started strongly, pressing from the front

- Grante blocks McAllister’s effort in the 15th minute

- Hill makes a strong stop to deny Wheatley, Jemide follows up with a vital block

- Jemide makes two further blocks to deny Man Utd midway through the half

- McAllister scores for Man Utd right before the break

- **HT: Man Utd 1-0 Palace**

- Man Utd hit the bar early on in the second-half

- Dashi sees a shot deflected behind

- Amass doubles the lead for Man Utd on the hour-mark

- Palace come close to pulling one back from debutant substitute Casey

- Biancheri scores, while Wheatley gets a brace, for Man Utd in the last 15 minutes

- **FT: Man Utd 5-0 Palace**

U18 Premier League Cup semi-final Highlights: Manchester United 5-0 Crystal Palace

Two weeks on from [the defeat to rivals Brighton & Hove Albion](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/match-reports/brighton-hove-albion-crystal-palace-u18-premier-league-south-2324/), Crystal Palace Under-18s travelled up north to face Manchester United in the semi-final of the U18 Premier League Cup. 

There were two changes to the side, with Marcus Hill making his debut between the sticks and [Rio Cardines returning from international duty](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/announcement/rio-cardines-trinidad-and-tobago-u20-concacaf-qualifiers-call-up/) with Trinidad and Tobago Under-20s. The pair came in for Billy Eastwood and Kai-Reece Adams-Collman who dropped to the bench.

Palace started the first half strongly, pressing from the front and unsettling the Man Utd defence, though neither side really fashioned a clear chance of note in the opening 15 minutes.

Man Utd’s captain Finlay McAllister had the first attempt on goal from either side just over a quarter of an hour in, but Jake Grante was on hand to get his body in the way. The 18-year-old centre-back recently featured for the Under-21s on Monday in their 3-0 win over Wolves.

The first effort for the hosts was a sign of things to come, as they continued to enjoy more of the ball and created further chances. Hill reacted brilliantly to deny an Ethan Wheatley effort, and a follow-up effort from Bendito Mantato was blocked by captain Mofe Jemide.

Jemide made two more goal-saving blocks as the half went on, denying Wheatley and James Scanlon, but on the stroke of half-time the hosts took the lead. 

A surging run from Reece Munro saw him pick Scanlon out on the right hand side. The forward slipped in McAllister and the Manchester United captain finished with a first-time effort from a tight angle.

The young Eagles’ first-half resilience was broken and they went into the break with it all to do in the second. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">45: A change for Palace at half-time and a first appearance at U18s level for Benji Casey 👊<br><br>Watch LIVE ➡️ <a href="https://t.co/MoLRSLajJ9">https://t.co/MoLRSLajJ9</a><br><br>🔴 1-0 🦅<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CPFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CPFC</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/U18PLCup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#U18PLCup</a> <a href="https://t.co/tUCBSM9qht">pic.twitter.com/tUCBSM9qht</a></p>&mdash; Crystal Palace F.C. Academy (@CPFCAcademy) <a href="https://twitter.com/CPFCAcademy/status/1763899928097571168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 2, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 

Man Utd came racing out the blocks and rattled the crossbar early on in the second-half through Scanlon. Almost immediately down the other end, Matteo Dashi and Seb Williams combined well before the former got a shot away that deflected out for a corner.

On the hour-mark, Man Utd doubled their advantage through Harry Amass. The defender was on a strong run forward before a stroke of luck saw his effort across the face of goal deflect in.

Palace came close to halving the deficit after going two goals down, with the pick of the chances fell to second-half substitute and debutant Benji Casey. Excellent footwork from Jesse Derry saw the ball worked towards Joe Gibbard.

His attempts at getting a shot on goal were smothered, though he managed to find Casey who rifled a fierce attempt on goal that was parried away by Elyh Harrison.

That proved to be the best chance of the game for Palace, as Man Utd dominated the final 15 minutes of the game, scoring three times.

A double from Ethan Wheatley and one from second-half substitute Gabriele Biancheri saw the hosts progress into the final. The young Eagles fought valiantly, with the scoreline perhaps not reflecting on their efforts throughout the game.

Reaching the semi-final of the U18 Premier League Cup for the first time in the club’s history will inspire further sides to push on and go one better, however attention will now turn towards doing the best they can in the league fixtures that remain.

**Man Utd:** Harrison (GK), Kamason, Jackson, Munro, Devaney, Mantato (Biancheri, 69), McAllister, Wheatley, Scanlon (Thwaites, 78), Missin (Bailey, 82).

Subs not used: Myles (GK), Armer.

**Palace:** Hill (GK), Carindes, Grante, Jemide, Cowin (Casey, HT), King, Gibbard, S. Williams (Whyte, 62), Dashi (Austin, 62), Agbinone, Derry.

Subs not used: Eastwood (GK), Adams-Collman.

On a rainy Saturday morning at Carrington, Crystal Palace Under-18s were defeated 5-0 by Manchester United in the semi-final of the U18 Premier League Cup.

Report & Highlights: Palace fall in U18 PL Cup semi-final to Man Utd

Manchester United U18 v Crystal Palace U18 (2024-03-02)

Rob Quinn's young Eagles will travel to Carrington to take on the Red Devils on Saturday, 2nd March (11:00 GMT).

After topping their group in dramatic fashion, with a [last-minute 5-4 win against Fulham](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/match-reports/crystal-palace-fulham-u18-premier-league-cup-2324/), the side [cruised past Aston Villa](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/match-reports/crystal-palace-aston-villa-u18-premier-league-cup-2324/) in the quarter-finals to set up this clash with Man Utd.

Adam Lawrence’s Man Utd topped their group, at the expense of Wolverhampton Wanderers, Southampton and Reading, before overcoming Arsenal 4-2 in the quarter-finals.

They currently sit top of the U18 Premier League North, with 14 wins out of 15. Palace are currently in fifth place in the U18 Premier League South, just three points off the top three.

The tournament removes the regionalisation of north and south, which currently splits the league format, meaning sides will get to experience opposition they wouldn’t face under normal circumstances.

[Click here for a more detailed breakdown of the U18 Premier League Cup and Palace's run in it so far](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/information/u18-premier-league-cup-format-qualification-explained/).

The winner of this game will face either Manchester City or Leicester City in the final, after the two sides beat West Ham and Chelsea respectively in the quarter-finals.

The semi-final clash will take place on Saturday, 2nd March at 11:00 GMT. It will be decided on the day, so if the score is level after 90 minutes there will be extra-time and then penalties.

The game will be streamed LIVE on Palace TV+, subject to the required permissions being granted - [click here for more information](https://www.cpfc.co.uk/supporters/palace-tv-plus/). An update on this will be provided here and on our official [Crystal Palace Academy X account](https://twitter.com/CPFCAcademy/).

### Match Details

- Manchester United U18s v Crystal Palace U18s

- 11:00 GMT

- Carrington

- U18 Premier League Cup semi-final

Crystal Palace Under-18s have been drawn against Manchester United U18s in the semi-final of the U18 Premier League Cup.


English U18 Premier League CupCarrington

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Manchester United U18 5 Crystal Palace U18 0

English U18 Premier League CupCarrington

News & Video

As it Happened

Match reports

Match reports

Report & Highlights: Palace fall in U18 PL Cup semi-fin...

Upcoming palace games

Match Blog

Starting lineup

Substitutes

Starting lineup

Substitutes

Team stats

News & Video

Lineups

Stats

Scores

Blog

Match reports

Match reports

Report & Highlights: Palace fall in U18 PL Cup semi-fin...

Upcoming palace games

Starting lineup

Substitutes

Starting lineup

Substitutes

Team stats

Match Blog