16 April 2007
VIDEO: Final, first leg - Liverpool 1-2 Manchester United

Liverpool make a great start at Anfield but an own goal and Hewson's penalty give United the advantage.

Liverpool

1(2)v(2)0

Manchester United

Threlfall 51

Liverpool won 4-3 on penalties
The FA Youth Cup Final, Sponsored by E.ON
Second Leg
7.45pm, Thursday 26 April 2007
Old Trafford

Steve Heighway could not hide his delight, nor his pride, as he spoke about the players that have brought him a second successive FA Youth Cup success and a fitting way for him to step down from his position as Academy Director.

For a man who has given so much to Liverpool Football Club over more than three decades, it is fitting that his players were able to deliver him one final triumph in his final season in charge.

"I'm so proud of the boys, we believed in them all along," Heighway revealed. "They are an awesome bunch of kids, people criticise young people today but these boys have dedicated themselves for the last eight or nine years to being the best they can be. I'm so pleased for them.

"It's very emotional as I've been around the club for such a long time, but sometimes even boys need a new face and the players and staff have been listening to me for 18 years - maybe they need a new voice to listen to.

"People don't understand what it's like, the players are like your own kids. I signed nine of these players when they were ten years old, and they signed again every year since.

"Managers don't understand it's about relationships with young people, they can't afford to get too close to their players - we have to.

"It will be unbelievably difficult to go, and I don't have to but I feel the time is right."

Despite savouring the victory Heighway would have been happy not to move into a penalty shootout, and instead share the Cup with Manchester United.

Heighway said: "I said to Paul McGuinness with about two minutes of extra time left, 'Why don't we just share it?'

"Why go through the agony of penalties and have somebody win, what's wrong with sharing trophies? There's a new idea.

"But I said to the boys before the penalty shootout that I was cool whichever way it went; win, lose or draw, what's the problem?

"We've played fantastically well and the penalties are just a sideshow, if we'd lost the sideshow we would still have played fantastically well. I don't believe in penalty kicks really, it ceased to be a contest after that."

The traditions of the two clubs involved ensured that this final would be nothing short of a classic, and Heighway is confident that the players lived up to the history of Liverpool and Manchester United.

"We are a great club and this (Man Utd) is a great club as well, and I think it was obvious that both sets of players were aware of who they were playing for. The traditions of the clubs were there, nobody was going to lie down and I think it was fitting that the game was a draw.

"The crowd was marvellous, particularly when you think that United and Liverpool have both had massive games this week for their fans, to have so many turn out is brilliant.

"What better preparation for these young boys can there be, if they are going to go on and become first team players? This thing stands on its own as a competition and the boys are are all the better for the experiences they have had leading up to tonight."