United's under-18 squad were at Rockliffe Park on Saturday afternoon for a very competitive pre-season friendly against Middlesbrough.
Goals from Charlie Watt, Sam Fishburn and Adam Walton saw the young Blues through to a victory they worked hard for, despite having suffered two penalty scares along the way.
Youth boss Eric Kinder said: "It's been a strange summer with us not being able to schedule the number of friendly fixtures we'd have liked, for obvious reasons, but I'm really pleased with the approach we got from everybody today.
"I thought we were fantastic through the first 20 minutes and we scored two excellent goals as a reward. Charlie put a really well taken free kick away, and that was added to by another decent finish from Sam.
"We looked really comfortable with our lead, but things got interesting when Boro pulled one back from the spot. Credit to the boys, they could have buckled, but they dealt with everything and they kept their composure well.
"The work they put in was rewarded when Adam Walton restored the two-goal lead, but things are never easy in football. We gave away another penalty, which Boro scored from, and it was a case of knuckling down and concentrating through the final stages to see the game out."
"Like I say, I can't fault any of them today," he added. "We only had two substitutes, so I thought we'd really come under pressure as Middlesbrough started to introduce a lot of fresh legs.
"We could easily have allowed that to affect us, but it didn't. In the end we defended well, increased the work rate and worked hard for each other, and it never really felt like the equaliser was coming.
"Three great goals and an overall dominant display, particularly in the first half, so we come away feeling very pleased."
More details to follow.
