Manchester City have dominated youth football over the last few seasons but that's not the case at the moment.

City have won three successive Premier League 2 titles and yet they're bottom of the league in this campaign, following a change of format, summer sales, injuries and first-team promotions.

There are mitigating factors for their drop-off but it has still been stark, which meant confidence in a win in the Manchester derby was high in the Manchester United camp.

Naturally, the Under-21 debry does not attract the same level of attention as the first-team derby, but coaches would admit claiming the bragging rights in Manchester is important at any age level.

Before Monday night's game, City's U21s had beaten United 12-1 on aggregate across the last two meetings, although another thrashing seemed unlikely given their league form.

City boss Brian Barry-Murphy named a strong side, with Micah Hamilton, Jacob Wright and Joel Ndala starting, while his adversary in the opposite dugout, Travis Binnion, had the likes of Willy Kambwala, Sam Mather and Toby Collyer at his disposal.

Joe Hugill, who joined Burton Albion on loan in January, and Shola Shoretire mingled before the game and the latter was playing a supportive role due to an injury.

Shoretire is enjoying an excellent season for the U21s but Mather stepped up in his absence against Norwich last month, with the winger scoring all four goals in a 4-2 win.

Mather has been increasingly involved in first-team training over the last few weeks. He was part of the FA Youth Cup winning team of 2021/22 and he lined up on the left against City.

Collyer has also been a regular presence in senior training sessions and after an uneventful opening 30 minutes, he did brilliantly to press and win the ball from a cleared City corner.

United had the ball in the net again five minutes later but the linesman flagged for offside. A confused Binnion stood up and asked the fourth official: "What was that for?"

The consensus in the press box during half-time was the first half had certainly not been a thriller but it didn't take long for the contest to finally explode into life in the second half.

City came flying out of the blocks and goalkeeper Dermot Mee was called into action, making two important saves, and Kambwala made a superb block to deny an equaliser.

Whatever Barry-Murphy said in the dressing room had worked. Those in blue shirts responded and looked closer to the team that lifted a third consecutive league title last season.

However, against the run of play, United scored from a corner through Tom Huddlestone, with the 37-year-old making a claim for the oldest player to score in an U21 fixture.

Huddlestone has a coach-player role at United and gives on-field instructions. Paul McShane held that role before him and other clubs have seen the position's merit, with Liverpool bringing former player Jay Spearing into their academy to have similar responsibilities.

City did not deserve to be trailing by two goals and they got the rub of the green shortly after that when substitute Stephen Mfuni found the net with a deflected, looping effort.

That goal meant it was game on and both managers rose to their feet, sensing a pivotal stage of the match. City were turning the screw and were asking questions of United.

A scuffle then broke out and Mather was shown a red card. He walked to the bench and mouthed "f*** off" toward a City player who had been goading him from the bench.

Hamilton, who made his senior City debut in the Champions League against Red Star in December, was brilliant and a constant threat on the wing. He looked the most likely to provide a spark and Ndala on the opposite side was doing his bit to produce an equaliser.

The electronic board was raised to signal 11 minutes of added time and United defended bravely to see out the 2-1 victory. "Glory, glory Man United" played over the PA at the end.

City did not dominate today, albeit a draw would have been a fair result.