Aston Villa beat Manchester City to win the FA Youth Cup
Aston Villa won the FA Youth Cup for the fifth time following a 3-1 victory over Manchester City at Villa Park this afternoon.
25,000 fans supported the Young Lions and helped roar them onto victory against a side who had already won the U18 North Premier League title. Should Villa win the South Premier League, the two sides could still meet in the Premier League Final.
How the Final was won
The home side were behind inside two minutes when Sam Proctor’s poor clearance allowed City to find Matty Warhurst, who was able to give the favourites an early lead.
Villa didn’t allow the visitors to enjoy their lead and hit back immediately. The hosts won a corner through a Mason Cotcher header. From the resulting corner, Cole Brannigan picked out the head of Leon Carroll, who rose to head home and pull the game level.
City dominated the majority of the ball and would have been left frustrated by the quality of their finishing on the day.
A wondergoal from Brannigan just after the half-hour mark turned the tie on its head. City cleared, yet another threatening Villa set piece which fell to the midfield on the edge of the box, who sent an unstoppable volley into the back of the net.
An action-packed first half came to an end with Villa in the lead, but still everything to play for.
The home side found themselves camped in their half for much of the second period without Manchester City looking a real threat, and just after the hour mark, Villa all but sealed the win.
Jimoh-Aloba, who looked a level above everyone else on the pitch all day, picked the ball up before cutting inside and driving to the City area before unleashing a shot from the edge of the box to make it 3-1.
City continued to push in the final minutes but Villa did enough to win their fifth FA Youth Cup.