Birmingham City defeated Manchester United 3-1 in a behind closed doors friendly this afternoon.
Blues took a mixture of first teamers in need of action and under-21 players to United’s Carrington training ground.
And goals by Darren Ambrose, Matt Green and Demarai Gray saw them run out winners against the Reds, who fielded mainly youngsters and fringe players.
“We’ve built up a good relationship with United,” said Blues coach Steve Watson.
“They’ve invited us up a couple of times for friendly games.
“I think they like what we’re doing with Jesse Lingard and also feel our development side has good players to provide them with a competitive game.
“This was a little bit different in that we included a lot of lads who also needed some minutes into them like Lee Novak, Kyle Bartley, Nikola Zigic, Mitchell Hancox, Paul Caddis, Hayden Mullins and Scott Allan.
“But by the end we had three 17-year-olds - Demarai Gray, Reece Brown and Koby Arthur - plus a 16-year-old trialist in the top end positions, which was very pleasing.”
And, said Watson, Gray continued to impress.
After scoring for the development side at Crewe Alexandra on Monday, he netted again.
“It was a fantastic goal from Dimmi,” Watson enthused. “He turned two men 30 yards out, played a one-two with Reece, who weighted his reverse pass perfectly, and went on to slot past the ‘keeper.”
Watson added: “It was a good workout for us and integrating the younger lads with a strong group against a team like United provided them with a different test.”
