‘Most prestigious’ - Ben Wilkinson reflects on FA Youth Cup triumph as Man City beat Leeds in final

Ben Wilkinson said winning the FA Youth Cup is the greatest achievement of his coaching career, after Manchester City’s victory on Friday night.

The Blues comfortably dispatched Leeds United 4-0 in the final at the Etihad, with goals from Justin Oboavwoduo, Jaden Heskey, Stephen Mfuni and Matty Warhurst securing the club’s first success in the competition since 2020.

It’s an important win not just for the current batch of youth-team players, but for the entire academy. City’s win sees them move up to four Youth Cup triumphs, a tally only three clubs have bettered.

Wilkinson, who retired from football at the age of 24 and moved into coaching, has previously described the tournament as the biggest prize available across the youth set-up, and said he is delighted for a group of players that could contain several stars of the future.

“Yeah, probably in terms of being able to win things,” Wilkinson replied, when asked if it’s his biggest success as a coach. “It's probably the most prestigious competition we’ve won in my time with the Under-18s. 

“I think when you’re in this arena, it’s more about development and the progression of the players to seeing who can step up to senior football and how they step up and how they evolve as people in their time at the club.

“It feels unbelievable at the moment, but more than anything I am just pleased for everyone in the academy and there’s so much work that goes in for years and there a lot of people who don’t get the recognition and the credit.

“It’s a nice way to finish the season,” he added. “It’s great for the players to experience these nights. More than anything, it’s because it’s as close as we can get to giving them a first-team environment, and from a development point of view, we learn a lot from the players on nights like this. I’m really pleased.”

The Youth Cup win also ensures City’s Under-18s don’t end the season trophy-less, having lost their league title for the first time in five years to Manchester United, while their local rivals also beat City in last month’s Premier League Cup final.

“We did speak about that and about how we lost the final the other week and how that felt for us afterwards,” Wilkinson reflected. “We’ve been in a purple patch for the last few years and in football it is very rare you can consider that every single season. It’s really nice to get on the board with a prestigious trophy and to keep that momentum going in the academy.”

While City’s win looked comfortable in the latter stages of the game, at half-time it was anything but. Leeds stood firm defensively in the first period, while City lacked a bit of fluidity at times. That changed after the interval, and by the hour mark the hosts were two goals ahead at the Etihad. From there, City dominated and scored twice more to ensure they coasted to victory.

“We were probably a little bit disappointed with how we played in the first half and lacked a bit of speed and tempo in our play,” said Wilkinson. “It’s a little bit understandable in terms of playing on the big occasion.

“But at half-time we spoke about making sure we came off the pitch showing our true selves. We played quicker with more intensity and speed, fewer touches on the ball, picked the tempo up. The space they gave us tended to be in the wide areas so to use our options out there a little bit better and work on a couple of things. The first 10/15 minutes of the second half the game changed quite a lot.”