As the fireworks went off to light up the night sky, most of Manchester United’s Under-18s were desperate to head for home.
On a night that promised so much, the first chance for Darren Fletcher to win a trophy as a manager, United left trying to stomach a cocktail of emotions.
Anger, for one, at what they felt was a double standard from referee Fabio Roque in the most crucial moments. Disappointment, also, at the fact they never managed to put Crystal Palace away despite a plethora of golden opportunities.
Albert Mills saw red in the final moments of normal time. He could only bury himself in the arms of his dad when all was said and done.
There was a sinking feeling too; a pain at losing another penalty shootout at this level.
For the likes of captain Dan Armer, Godwill Kukonki, who missed the decisive penalty this time around in a 6-5 loss, Jim Thwaites, Amir Ibragimov, Samuel Lusale and Chido Obi, this was all too familiar. All of them experienced the pain at Villa Park a year ago in losing an FA Youth Cup semi-final via spot-kicks.
Manchester United’s academy stars must use shootout disappointment as fuel for success
Crystal Palace won the Under-18 Premier League Cup for the first time in their history
When Fletcher on took this job, player development was at the very top of his priority list. Winning would be important – there would be no point going out to compete if it wasn’t – but his key focus was preparing as many of these Under-18s for professional football.
His long-term success would be defined by getting as many of these players as possible into professional football, ideally United’s first team. That’s the challenge.
So the intensity of training was ramped up. Daily afternoon video analysis sessions are part of the furniture for the Under-18s now also, with players urged to bring their own clips to film study. United academy sources speak of the buy-in players had immediately to Fletcher’s way of working.
Following in the same model as Michael Carrick and the first team, a drone films every training session and each player can access individual clips for analysis via their own Hudl file every single day.
This group has looked fitter than many of their opponents this season – not least in extra-time against Palace at Old Trafford – due to the changes implemented from Fletcher ever since his very first camp in charge in Germany last summer.
But there is no prep work, no analysis session, no nutrition plan, no training routine, that can prepare any professional player for the crushing disappointment of losing a penalty shootout.
Between the Under-18s and the first team, United have lost their last four shootouts.
In March 2025, the first team lost 4-3 in a shootout against Fulham to crash out of the FA Cup. In that same month the Under-18s lost 3-1 at Villa Park in that aforementioned Youth Cup semi-final exit.
Earlier this season, back in August, Ruben Amorim oversaw a 12-11 shootout defeat to Grimsby Town, where Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo missed the decisive spot-kicks.
For a manager as focused on development as Fletcher, along with his trusted assistant Colin Little, this was something the players had to experience for themselves; something nobody could save them from in advance.
Godwill Kukonki’s penalty was tipped onto the bar by 15-year-old goalkeeper Lucca Benetton
It is the fourth straight shootout across Under-18s and first team level that United have now lost
Darren Fletcher is moulding players into young professionals but this lesson cannot be taught
Fletcher was part of the United side in 2014 that was knocked out of the League Cup on penalties by Sunderland in a semi-final at Old Trafford. He was the only United player from five to score. It didn’t ease his disappointment, though.
Those miscues at Grimsby have not gone on to define Cunha nor Mbeumo’s season, nor should this bruising night in south London, which was minutes away from a trophy lift for United, define an Under-18s team that could yet go on to win a league and cup double.
For as disappointing as the penalties would go on to be, the annoyance inside the United camp is that it should not have come to that given the dominance they showed for 90 minutes.
Arriving at Selhurst Park in their perfectly pressed club suits, just days removed from beating this same Crystal Palace team at Old Trafford to reach the FA Youth Cup final, confidence was understandably high.
Chido Obi, who produced a goal and an assist in that 2-1 Youth Cup win over Palace last week, was drafted into this competition for the first time this season.
United had JJ Gabriel, arguably the best Under-18s player in the country, fit and starting. Jim Thwaites, Noah Ajayi, Armer and many more are among the top performers in their positions at this age level.
And so when Ajayi opened the scoring brilliantly in the first half, picked out in the area by Obi, who put in one of his most complete all-round performances in a United shirt, the trophy lift looked in sight.
Only Ajayi would be forced off injured and the second goal never arrived despite United finishing the night with 22 shots.
Gabriel was smothered by impressive 15-year-old Palace goalkeeper Lucca Benetton in the other big chance of the first half.
In the second, United were left to rue the moment when Obi, through one versus one, smashed against the crossbar.
Obi then picked out Junior Brown with a delicate chipped pass towards the back post. The winger’s first time volleyed effort struck the post and rolled along the line before it was hacked away.
Even down a man in extra-time, when opportunities in a stretched game were at a premium for United, Jay McEvoy – on from the bench – did brilliantly to squeeze between two defenders but uncharacteristically fired over the bar from six yards out.
United had chances to win it, not least this chance in extra-time for substitute Jay McEvoy
Nathanial Junior Brown also struck the post with a driven volley in a dramatic second half
The final flipped on its head when Albert Mills fouled Ben Casey, initially outside the area, and he conceded a penalty and was shown red
Palace grew into the game and more than held their own in the second half, forcing Cameron Byrne-Hughes into a number of splendid stops. They, too, rattled the woodwork more than once.
Finals are a game of moments. Any first team player that helps to mentor these youngsters could have told them that.
So when Benjamin Casey raced beyond the United defence, Mills grappling to keep him from disappearing one versus one and fouling him outside the area before the striker was felled inside, United’s night changed in an instant.
Mills shown a straight red card. Fletcher and his staff incandescent on the bench. Mills would watch the remainder from a viewing platform above the tunnel.
Byrne-Hughes blew a kiss towards Casey in a bid to get inside his head. The United keeper went the right way but Casey scored low and hard into the corner.
Then came the despair. Lusale, the former Palace winger sent on from the bench to add pace to the counter-attack, burst free down the left and went down under challenge. Immediately referee Roque waved the protests away. Fletcher looked on in disbelief.
A final roll of the dice saw back-up goalkeeper Fred Heath sent on for the shootout, a move Fletcher was preparing to make last week at Old Trafford before Obi’s late winner.
Data backed up Heath as the better shot-stopper for a shootout but Palace scored six in a row and the trophy was theirs. Many inconsolable United youngsters fell to the ground with their head in their hands.
‘This feeling, you say to the players, “you don’t want to feel it again”,’ Fletcher told MUTV, after deciding against speaking to academy reporters.
‘They’ve had a fantastic season to still be competing for the league and to be in two cup finals.
‘It’s all learning. Experiences at these stadiums, how to deal with cup finals, prepare for cup finals, and how to deal with losses in cup finals. I said that to them that I hope they experience many cup finals in their careers.
‘When you get to a final no team wins them all and you have to experience that. You learn from it and as I say, you carry that feeling. It’s a horrible feeling.’
With fuel on the fire, beat Manchester City in the Youth Cup final in the coming weeks and this will prove a mere footnote on their season-ending report card.
