'It's exactly what we want' - U18 coach sets Arsenal challenge as 'mature' Man City advance in Youth Cup

Manchester City's under-18s showed maturity to reach the FA Youth Cup semi-finals, but must improve if they want to beat Arsenal, according to their head coach.

City waited patiently to build on Justin Oboavwoduo's first-half opener as Will Dickson scored a quick-fire brace in the second half to dispatch Oxford and set up a semi-final at Arsenal. Coach Ben Wilkinson was relieved at full time, describing the performance as mature, as he challenged his side with improvement in the final four.

However, with the semi-final tie to be played at the Emirates Stadium, Wilkinson declared that a big crowd in a stadium of that size is exactly the kind of challenge City are looking to provide for their players at this stage of their development.

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"We should always be winning the game but you never quite know," Wilkinson told MEN Sport. "The lads played really well, it can be a difficult game. It was a mature performance. It wasn't necessarily breathtaking at our best, but I thought we played a real controlled game where we were mindful of their threat on the counterattack. We're pleased to get through and set up a really high-quality semi-final."

Five of the starters against Oxford were in the under-19 side who lost at Hajduk Split last week in the UEFA Youth League, and Wilkinson had spoken before the game about taking the lessons from that 'hostile' environment into the domestic programme.

He continued: "It was something we spoke about, the lads who played in that game, they know if they were five per cent off it in a moment and that maybe cost them a goal. When we flip forward to the Arsenal game we can't afford to