Wednesday witnessed a sight not seen since James Tarkowski blasted in a ninety-eighth minute Everton equaliser against Liverpool and a jubilant Abdoulaye Doucoure sparked mayhem on 12th February this year.
Men’s football, in the shape of Paul Tait’s Under 21s, was back at Goodison Park under the lights for the prestigious Premier League International Cup tie against none other than Real Madrid Castilla who actually play in Spain’s 3rd tier (the equivalent of English League One).
The Blues lined up as below in a 3-4-1-2 formation with first team benchwarmers from Tuesday night, Reece Welch and captain Eli Campbell (pictured below) in their defence.
It was quite clear from the early stages that it was going to be a difficult night for the Toffees as the Spanish side were extremely well organised and had a clear game plan. In drawing out the Blues’ front two of Morgan and Graham and leaving Bates behind them, they were often bypassed by some slick ball movement and the midfield duo of Jack Patterson and Francis Gomez especially were run ragged.
The first action of note came after 15 minutes, courtesy of a mishit clearance from Will Tamen followed up by a clumsy tackle on one of their forwards in the centre of the Blues’ area, it was a stonewall penalty. George Pickford, not for the last time on the night, proved his growing credentials with a comfortable save from the resultant spot-kick and the Blues survived.
In an entertaining game it was often the final ball that let some determined work by Everton down. While the Madrid side were clearly the better team it looked like the Blues would survive till half-time. Pressure began to mount and Pickford with two excellent stops, one from point-blank range, gave hope until virtually the last kick of the half. An awkward bouncing ball spun off Eli Campbell’s hip in the six yard box, he lost his balance and there was an easy tap-home from close range, 0-1. After such great effort by the Blues and such skill from the Spanish team, it was a scruffy goal that separated the two teams.
With one eye on the FA Youth Cup tie on Friday, Braiden Graham was withdrawn at the interval along with the labouring Gomez. It saw the welcome return from injury of an outstanding centre midfield prospect, Harvey Foster (below), and also Omari Benjamin up front.
Everton v Plymouth Argyle - The FA Youth Cup Fifth Round
Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images
The Blues’ best move of the game came shortly afterwards as a great ball by Campbell down the inside left channel saw Morgan make good progress but his final ball to Benjamin was slightly underhit.
The game turned completely after 65 minutes when Jack Patterson threw himself into a typically robust challenge on a Spanish forward and, as the victim rolled around, his team-mates seemed to convince the referee that it was worthy of a straight red card. It was strong, a little agricultural perhaps, but feet were not high and there was little endangerment to his opponent. 10 men against a strong skilful team was not going to end well.
Two promising moments, in the 82nd minute a terrible Madrid back pass gave an “on-his-heels” Benjamin an opportunity he failed to realise and six minutes later, a great throw from Pickford set George Finney on a typical express-train run. The Spanish defenders could not catch him and Benjamin almost made amends with a sliding shot which was inches wide (see below).
As the end neared, in the 90+3 minute, substitute Kingsford Boakye was also denied at point blank range. As the Blues pressed for an equaliser, the inevitable happened. As the Blues defence was outnumbered, a shot just beat Pickford’s valiant efforts to keep it out and the game was lost 0-2.
It was ironic that two last-kick goals in each half had secured the win bearing in mind the last late goal in men’s football at Goodison (Tarkowski).
Disappointing as the result was, the game was further demonstration that Jordan isn’t the only Pickford in town. George Pickford (below) was outstanding, five world-class stops in the game and almost an assist.
George Pickford Signs his First Professional Contract at Everton
Photo by Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images
In recent weeks the only other U21 action had been a narrow 0-1 defeat in a National League Cup game away to Rochdale. First-team squad member, Adam Aznou, had featured for 90 minutes in that one.
Next up for the U21s are two games in the same competition against Jong PSV (Holland) and Monaco 11 (France). Nice to see that the Blues can compete against this type of opposition, they put up a good fight on Wednesday night!
Next up for the younger group is the much awaited FA Youth Cup tie against Millwall on Friday night.