on as a 76th-minute substitute for Reece Brown in a 2–2 away draw with Blackburn Rovers. He had a three-game run in the reserves in November 2010, and scored his first goal for the team against Bolton Wanderers on 2 November. Because of his increased involvement with the reserves, Thorpe made only 17 league appearances for the under-18s in 2010–11, but that was made up for by a successful run as captain in the FA Youth Cup; after beating Portsmouth, West Ham United, Newcastle United, Liverpool and Chelsea in the earlier rounds, the team beat Sheffield United 6–3 on aggregate in the two-legged final. Thorpe made the step up to the reserves on a permanent basis in 2011–12, but injuries kept him from securing a regular place in the team for the first month of the season. Nevertheless, he impressed enough in his two Manchester Senior Cup appearances in September 2011 to earn himself a place on the bench for the first team's League Cup third round match against Leeds United on 20 September; he was given the number 39 jersey for the match, but did not take the field. Thorpe only made 12 league appearances for the reserves during their title-winning season, most of them in an unfamiliar central midfield role, but he was an integral part of the team that went on to win the Manchester Senior Cup, coming on as a substitute in their 2–0 victory over Manchester City in the final. After the summer break, he also played in the final of the 2011–12 Lancashire Senior Cup, and helped Manchester United keep a clean sheet as they beat Accrington Stanley 4–0. With his injury woes behind him, Thorpe took over as captain of the reserve team (now the under-21s) for the 2012–13 season and was almost ever-present in the league as Manchester United claimed the inaugural Under-21 Premier League title; after finishing second to Tottenham Hotspur in both group phases of the competition, Manchester United got their revenge in the final of the competition, beating Tottenham 3–2 at Old Trafford. Thorpe scored twice during the season, first with a header from an Adnan Januzaj corner away to Newcastle United on 12 November, then a rising shot from 20 yards against Tottenham on 15 February. From the end of February, the team went on a run of 10 games that included eight clean sheets, and Thorpe's performances