What happened in the two Manchester derbies played yesterday?

Despite the fact that Michael Carrick’s Manchester United have not been in action since their 1-1 draw with West Ham United on February 10, two of the club’s academy sides locked horns with Manchester City over the weekend.

It’s fair to say that Carrick has turned out to be the perfect ship-steadier for Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS-led team given he is yet to be beaten in his five matches in charge.

In fact, in that time, the former midfielder has beaten Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal and Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the Premier League.

The fact that United are out of the League Cup and FA Cup, however, has opened up a gap in their schedule.

Two key academy sides at Carrington – the Under-18s and the Under-16s – have been in derby day action though. More importantly, how did both matches pan out?

First contested in 1881, two of England’s biggest teams going head-to-head in the Manchester derby is a date that is circled in the calendar and with Manchester’s bragging rights up for grabs, they are typically memorable encounters.

Darren Fletcher is back in charge of the Under-18s following his short stint in the Old Trafford dugout following Ruben Amorim’s departure – and his side closed the gap at the top of the table to one point.

Thanks to goals from JJ Gabriel, Chido Obi – who won the “Comet of the Year” award last summer – and Jim Thwaites, United’s Under-18s oversaw a terrific 3-1 win on Saturday.

Inside the opening 45 minutes, Chido struck the post twice in his on-goal efforts at the City Football Academy but it was Gabriel, who picked up a recent red card against West Bromwich Albion, who opened the scoring.

A goal to the good and Chido and Gabriel continued to wreak havoc for the City defence – and the former’s effort paid dividends in the 84th minute as he bagged his side’s second of the affair.

Tyrone Samba bagged a consolation for the hosts a minute later before Thwaites scored the pick of the bunch.

In typical Thwaites fashion, the 18-year-old stepped up from range and bent his set-piece into the top corner and beyond the reach of the City shot stopper.

For United’s Under-16s, the derby wasn’t as memorable as they lost 4-2. Caelan Cadamarteri scored three of City’s four strikes as they ran out comfortable victors and he took his season’s tally to 30.

Wayne Rooney’s son, Kai, and Jacey, Carrick’s son, both started the match and the referee was forced to dish out two red cards (one for each side) as tempers flared in the dying embers.

Silva Mexes, who is 15 years of age, bagged both of United’s goals of the afternoon but his two-goal haul was eclipsed by Cadamarteri’s hat-trick and Sami Ominiyi’s goal in a Manchester derby to forget.