Manchester City under-18s head coach Ben Wilkinson hailed a 'real team performance' as his side beat Fleetwood Town 5-0 in the FA Youth Cup quarter-finals.
City progressed into the final four thanks mainly to a wonderful hat-trick from Justin Oboavwoduo, along with goals from Matty Whittingham and Will Dickson. Goalkeeper George Murray Jones played his part in the win, saving a first-half penalty with the score at 1-0 and allowing his side to press on for what ended a comfortable victory.
The win sends City through to a semi-final tie against one of Leeds United or Oxford United, and while Wilkinson hailed an all-round performance form his side, the coach acknowledged room for improvement going into the next round.
ALSO READ: Joel Ndala showcases promise in dazzling 17-second burst
“In this competition it’s all about getting through to the next round but I thought we played well,” Wilkinson told CityTV. “It was a game we were expected to win but they can always be tricky, so I thought overall we were pretty good tonight.
"Justin is a goal scorer and he’ll be delighted to get his three goals, but I thought it was a real team performance. I thought everyone did their job and what we asked them to do. They stuck to the messages, so it was a pleasing night from a team perspective.
"We definitely saw bits [of improvement]. We saw quality going forward, defensively we didn't have loads to do. There is still room for us to grow in this competition which is good. It's nice to get to this stage in the competition and feel like there's more to come, so hopefully we can have another big night here [in the next round] and improve again."
With Leeds and Oxford meeting on Wednesday evening, Wilkinson and his side will soon learn of their opponents in the next round, with the West Yorkshire side presenting a well-known rival with Oxford less so - and the under-18s boss will be watching in anticipation.
"We’ve played Leeds a lot in the last couple of years, played them twice league this season so we know a lot about Leeds, what they're about and like any Leeds United team we know how they're going to play.
"Oxford are a bit more of an unknown for us so we’ll watch that game, and we’ve got a home tie against whoever wins so bring it on."
READ NEXT
