A Quick fire second-half double from Manchester United's Tom Lawrence sank Dale Eve and his Stoke City Under 18 Teammates to a 2-1 defeat in their final F.A. Premier League Academy game of the season.
The forward turned the game around after Karim Rossi had bundled home early in the second half to give Stoke the lead at the Carrington Training Ground.
The loss completes an up-and-down season for the young Stoke City team, but they can take plenty of encouragement from this performance, despite the final result.
They came into the game having won their last four Group C matches, while their United counterparts languished in the lower reaches of the table.
It was the home team who looked more threatening early on, however, and they nearly edged ahead in the seventh minute when Gyliano van Velzen cut in from the left hand after being found by Lawrence, but his curling effort cannoned back off the crossbar.
Van Velzen then dragged another shot wide, before Lawrence and Mats Daehli both had half chances that didn't trouble Eve.
City had to wait until the 35th minute for their first opportunity - but what a chance it was. Rossi played in Adam Thomas, and the winger did well to round the last defender and square to Jack Nardiello, but the striker somehow found the right-post despite the whole goal being at his mercy.
Van Velzen went close once more when his drive was parried by Eve, but no United player showed the instincts to chase up the rebound and the half-time whistle blew with the teams all square.
If United had edged the first-half, then Stoke can claim to have dominated the majority of the second, especially the first ten minutes which generated the opener.
It was only three minutes after the teams had re-emerged when Nardiello spun and unleashed a fine shot that only just cleared the bar, before Rossi had a powerful header that was well-saved by Pierluigi Gollini.
It was the Swiss forward who finally managed to break the deadlock in the 54th minute - Nardiello surged down the left-hand side, and pulled the ball across the six-yard box to Rossi, who eventually helped the ball into the roof of the net after a goalmouth scramble.
The hosts perked up after going behind, and equalized in the 63rd minute. Van Velzen tricked his way past three Stoke defenders before finding the onrushing Lawrence, who made no mistake from six yards, his shot finding the bottom right corner.
The same part of the net was bothered again by the same player just two minutes later - Stoke's midfield failed to close down Lawrence as he advanced through the final third, and he fired home a pinpoint shot that left Eve with little chance.
Stoke suddenly found themselves chasing the game, and introduced Jaden Hall and Marcel Barrington to add further threat in attacking areas.
Their search for an equalizer nearly bore fruit in the 80th minute when Andy Musungu hit a shot that stung the hands of Gollini, but it was in last minutes of the match where they went closest.
Firstly Barrington's snapshot was blocked by the United 'keeper, before Thomas went as close as any before when his poke from Hall's excellent cross looked destined for the net, only to spin off the inside of the post and back across the goalmouth.
Eve then nearly deceived Gollini in stoppage time with a 60-yard free kick, but the 'keeper held firm and cemented his side's three points, leaving Stoke heading back empty handed in the final match of the campaign.
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