Manchester City's dreams of FA Youth Cup glory were gunned down in the most heartbreaking of fashions at Arsenal in a semi-final that was settled by a 120th-minute winner.
City's youngsters were a goal and a man down after Lakyle Samuel's seventh-minute red card and Arsenal's scoring of the subsequent free-kick, but would produce a performance full of guts, discipline and desire to take the game to extra time, where they ultimately fell short in agonising fashion.
City's whole squad fell to the turf when Myles Lewis-Skelly headed home in injury time of the second half of extra-time after a heroic comeback that deserved so much more. Justin Oboavwuduo's 75th-minute equaliser gave City the rewards for their efforts in normal time but it would count for nothing as Arsenal progressed to the Youth Cup final.
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City's coaches had wanted to see what the players were made of in the biggest game of their careers. They passed that test with flying colours after a performance beyond their years despite players unable to walk by the end with cramp to a man. Despite the result, that showed Ben Wilkinson and his staff everything they wanted to know.
You can put all the plans, systems and processes in place, but nothing can account for City's nightmare start at the Emirates. Wilkinson wanted his players to trust the processes they have worked on throughout their academy journeys, this competition a chance to 'finish that pathway in style.'
Training had been intense, the starting XI was as strong as could be, and the side were sharp in the opening stages. Six minutes in, though, and everything went out of the window. On the transition, a fine through-ball found Omari Benjamin, who got himself goalside of Lakyle Samuel.
The City defender was helpless as his legs tangled with the striker's, Benjamin went down and, as the last man, Samuel was back in the changing room as quickly as he left it. A period of consolidation would be ideal after such a blow, but an uphill climb was made mountainous when Michal Rosiak curled the resulting 20-yard free kick into George Murray-Jones' top corner. A goal down and a man down in the capital, and London buses must have sprung to mind.
Wilkinson had pointed to previous big games where City had fallen behind and given themselves more work to do than was necessary. As Arsenal tried to compound their advantage, the City response was good, trusting their ball-work and not just sitting back. They should have been level when a poor Arsenal corner gave Justin Oboavwoduo the length of the pitch to run unchallenged, but he had too much time to pick his spot that he simply poked the effort wide with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Will Dickson flashed an effort wide, and Joel Ndala fired a half-volley over as City did what Wilkinson had challenged them to do in response to adversity - trust the process. If anything, City were the better side for the remainder of the first half, even if Jack Wilshire's Arsenal had a couple of chances of their own to remind the Blues to stay alert.
The second half followed a similar pattern, with City doing well on the ball and Arsenal trying to use their extra man to stretch and tire the visitors. They had chances, but few that troubled Murray-Jones too much - and when Benjamin did get a shot away the goalkeeper was big to stop a goalbound effort.
For all of Arsenal's chances, though, City were still in the game to their immense credit. Wilkinson said before this semi-final that 'this is where we find out about them.' He'll have seen a group who stood up to the challenge, adapted to an early blow, and then snatched a deserved equaliser with 15 minutes remaining.
Joel Ndala skipped past his man, and as Arsenal wanted a foul, he fed Jacob Wright. The low cross to the back post was superb, Nico O'Reilly's cutback was clever, and Oboavwoduo made up for his earlier miss by turning the ball home for his fifth Youth Cup goal of the season - and this was his tenth consecutive start in which he had scored.
Judging by Murray-Jones' booking for timewasting, City's eyes were on penalties after getting level, so extra time was inevitable. Five City players needed treatment for cramp in the stoppage before the restart, and a further three at half-time in extra time. As both sides tired, it felt that City's resistance had done its job.
That was, until the most heartbreaking of endings. Lewis-Skelly rose highest as the clock ticked over 120 minutes, with less than 60 seconds to penalties, and nodded over Murray-Jones. Arsenal's bench sprinted onto the pitch, City players sank to the pitch.
They gave everything but to lose in the cruellest of fashions. It will be no consolation now, but they showed City all about their character and personalities over an epic 113 minutes. If there is a way to lose, City's under-18 Class of 2023 showed it at the Emirates.
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