By Chris O'Brien
May 11 2004

United have won the Manchester Senior Cup with a 3-1 victory over arch-rivals Manchester City at Old Trafford. 3,484 watched Ricky Sbragia's second-string side lift the trophy thanks to a brace from Kenny Cooper and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.

United have won the Manchester Senior Cup with a 3-1 victory over rivals Manchester City at Old Trafford. A brace from young American Kenny Cooper and a late winner from substitute striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake reclaimed the trophy for an inexperienced United side.

With the competition chiefly a reserve-team tournament, Ricky Sbragia picked the second-string side. The most experienced player included was Northern Irish international Roy Carroll, perhaps desperate to salvage any hope of playing in the F.A Cup final on May 22nd. Other recognisable names included Mark Lynch and Kieran Richardson whilst Dave Jones and Jonathan Spector, who were recently awarded the reserve and youth team player of the year awards respectively, both started.

The Red Devils, enjoying home advantage with the game staged at Old Trafford started the brighter of the two sides with Ebanks-Blake and Colin Heath both going close during the opening exchanges, before Cooper netted his first goal of the game to break the deadlock on the 25-minute mark. Winger Richardson, desperate to catch the eye of Sir Alex Ferguson for a first-team spot, sent an inch-perfect cross towards the American, who finished from close range.

Honours looked like bring even at the interval though, with Bradley Wright-Phillips heading home the equaliser for the visitors only 5 minutes before the break. It was a blow for United, but worked as a real wake up call with the momentum of the hosts' game falling after a lively start and the Reds regained the lead only seconds before the half-time whistle. Cooper scored the goal of the game with a stylish 15-yard shot which left City 'keeper Ellegaard with no chance.

Manchester City attacked in numbers as the second-half got under-way, desperate to find a way back into the game. The importance of this local silverware and the derby instinct was visible as both teams showed a lot of pride, effort and commitment throughout. Wright-Phillips hit the woodwork for City, and Ulsterman Carroll was forced into a number of saves to deny the visitors an equalising goal.

United secured victory with another injury-time goal, with highly-rated young forward Sylvan Ebanks-Blake securing the reserves continued their tremendous end-of-season form with victory in the Senior Cup Final. The majority of the 3,484 in attendance celebrated another success for Manchester United, and hopefully this reserve success will inspire the senior side to Millennium Stadium glory against Millwall later in the month. The crowd was slightly disappointing, considering the large crowd that was at Old Trafford for last seasons Youth Cup, although with only four teams competing in this trophy from the start, it was hardly surprising.

It has very much been a tale of two halves for the reserves this season. A shaky start meant challenging for the Reserve League North was always going to be a challenge, and United ended up finishing the season 9 points behind regional league winners Aston Villa in third place. This has to be marked as a good achievement particularly after the shaky start, and the United second-string ended the season with an incredible 13 game unbeaten run, including a recent 7-2 friendly testimonial win with Unibond League outfit Rossendale United.

Ricky Sbragia has fielded mainly young starlets throughout the season, and many players have developed their game significantly this term. After failing to challenge for the league title, the United reserves ended their season with Cup success. Sound familiar? Let's hope the senior side can do the same! Many congratulations to the United reserves on the Cup win and a pleasing season overall. Those who have attended matches at Moss Lane have been entertained and are sure to have watched some of the next generation of Red Devils.

Full Time - Manchester United Reserves 3-1 Manchester City Reserves
Attendance - 3,484

Manchester United: Carroll, Lynch, Tierney, Spector, Howard, Jones, Eagles (N'Galula), Fox, Cooper (Ebanks-Blake), Heath (Poole), Richardson.

Manchester City: Ellegaard, Flood, Jordan, Whelan, McCarthy, Onuoha (Warrender), Croft, Negouai (Laird), Elliott, Wright-Phillips, Tiatto (Ireland).