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Manchester City's dreams of FA Youth Cup glory were hit in the most heartbreaking fashion at Arsenal in a semi-final decided by a winner at the 120th minute. City's youngsters were one goal one man behind after Lakyle Samuel's seventh-minute red card and Arsenal's goal in ensuing free kick, but they were to put on a performance filled with courage, discipline the desire to take game into overtime. painfully inadequate. City's entire team was knocked down the field when Myles Lewis-Skelly went home in injury time in the second half of extra time after a heroic comeback that deserved so much more. Justin Oboavwuduo's 75-minute equalizer rewarded City for their efforts in regular time, but it would have meant nothing as Arsenal advanced to the Youth Cup final. READ ALSO Man City U18 player ratings vs Arsenal and goal highlights City's coaches wanted to see what the players were up to in the biggest game of their careers. Despite the players who couldn't walk up to a man with cleats, they passed this test with great success after years of performance. Despite the result, this showed Ben Wilkinson and his team everything they wanted to know. You can put all plans, systems and processes in place, but nothing can explain the City's nightmarish start in Emirates. Wilkinson wanted his players to trust the processes they worked on throughout their academy journeys; this competition was a chance to "complete this road in style". Training was intense, starting 11 were as strong as they could get and the sides were sharp in opening stages. Yet in six minutes and everything flew out the window. In the pass, Omari Benjamin, who took himself into Lakyle Samuel's goal, found a good intermediate ball. The city defender was helpless when his legs got tangled in forward, Benjamin fell to ground and last man, Samuel, was back in locker room as soon as he left locker room. A period of consolidation after such a blow would have been ideal, but an uphill climb turned mountainous when Michal Rosiak swung the resulting 20-yard free kick into the upper corner of George Murray-Jones. A goal and a man fell to the ground in the capital and London buses must have come to mind. Wilkinson had pointed to previous big games where City fell behind and gave them too much work. City's response was good as Arsenal tried to build up their advantage, relying on their ball work to not just sit back. They should have been on par when a bad Arsenal corner gave Justin Oboavwoduo length of field run unopposed, but he had too much time choose his spot, only nudge effort wide beat goalkeeper. Will Dickson made a wide effort and Joel Ndala fired half volley and City did what Wilkinson challenged them to do in response to the challenge - trust process. City were on better side for rest of first half, even if Jack Wilshire's Arsenal had a few chances of their own to remind Blues to stay alert. The second half followed a similar pattern, with City doing well with the ball and Arsenal trying to use their extra man to stretch and tire the guests. They had chances, but few bothered Murray-Jones too much - and when Benjamin took a shot, the goalie was big on stopping an effort into goal. Despite Arsenal's luck, City was still in the game and they had tremendous credit. "We learn about them here," Wilkinson said before this semi-final. He will have seen a group that resist the challenge, adapt to an early blow, and then get a well-deserved equalizer with 15 minutes left. Joel Ndala passed his man and fed Jacob Wright as Arsenal fouled him. The low mid to back post excellent, Nico O'Reilly's cut was brilliant and Oboavwoduo made up for earlier miss by taking home the ball for his fifth Youth Cup goal of season - and it tenth consecutive start. had scored. Judging by Murray-Jones' reservation for waste of time, City's eyes were on penalties after leveling up, so overtime was inevitable. Five City players needed treatment for cramping during stoppage before restarting, and a three more first-half players were needed in overtime. As both sides were tired, he felt that City's resistance was doing its job. Until the most heartbreaking ending. Lewis-Skelly peaked at over 120 minutes with less than 60 seconds to penalties and confirmed Murray-Jones. They gave everything but lost in the most brutal fashions. No consolation now, but for an epic 113 minutes, they showed City all about their character and personality. If there's any way to lose, City's Under-18 Class of 2023 showed it at Emirates.
