United won comfortably at Oxford United, with Carrick making the 160-mile round trip to see the U18s in action.
"Yeah, it was good. I enjoyed it," Carrick told MUTV.
"We went down, there was a number of the staff that went down and yeah it was always something we were trying to do and as much as we can, we'll do that in between our fixtures. In the Youth Cup, I've got great memories personally of the Youth Cup when I was younger.
"Such an important competition and so for us to go and watch, it's good to get our eyes on some of the younger players and how they're doing.
"For them to feel that connection. I was really pleased with Colin (Little) and Fletch (Darren Fletcher) and the boys and I thought they played really well in tough conditions, actually. So to get a good result and move on was a good night."