Ferguson Given Another Goodbye Gift As Manchester United U21's Coast Past Liverpool

Manchester United continued their perfect conclusion to the season last night as their U21's side hammered Liverpool 3-0 at Old Trafford to seal a place in the final of the U21 Premier League.

Hours after David Moyes made a vow to continue United's proud traditions of incorporating youth into the first team, the club's youngsters powered their way past their old rivals courtesy of a Larnell Cole hat-trick in what was a typically ill-tempered encounter that saw Liverpool's John Flanagan shown a red card for kicking the ball at Adnan Januzaj.

United's win will see them take on Tottenham Hotspur in the final next Monday, a game than will also see former United youngster Zeki Fryers take on the club he left last summer.

Cole was gifted the chance to open the scoring when Liverpool's Stephen Sama, who was sent off in the same fixture just last week, clumsily took down Tom Lawrence. Cole dispatched the resulting penalty, and was given the chance to double his tally from the spot again just seven minutes later, after Jon Flanagan was penalised for barging into Lawrence.

The visiting side were seemingly hard done by with the second penalty decision, but Cole's clinical finishing from 12 yards ensured United went into half time with a secure lead, much to the delight of a watching Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Merseysiders enjoyed greater spells of possession following the restart, but failed to fashion a goal for themselves, with Krisztian Adorjan guilty of wasting their best chance.

The 20-year-old Cole completed his hat trick with 20 minutes of the game remaining when a corner from Januzaj sparked a scramble in the box, before Tom Thorpe set up Cole to drive his third past Liverpool's Danny Ward.

Liverpool's misery was compounded when Flanagan, who was harshly judged to have fouled Lawrence for United's second, was shown a red card when he kicked the ball against the grounded Januzaj. The young Belgian, who earned a glowing appraisal from Ferguson last month soon picked up a yellow card for himself, but United's work for the evening was finished.

United will take on their Tottenham counterparts at Old Trafford on Monday 20 May.