Everton Under-21s and Under-18s are in contention for several competitions heading into the rest of March
David Moyes believes a sign of real progress behind the scenes at Everton would be the club’s youth teams picking up silverware.
And while the academy is in a state of flux right now, with a host of key roles currently vacant, the senior teams at Finch Farm are set for an enthralling few weeks as they compete on multiple fronts.
Both the Under-18s and the Under-21s will have the chance to progress into the final stages of prestigious tournaments this month.
Paul Tait’s U21s are fighting on two fronts with the team still in the Liverpool Senior Cup and the Premier League International Cup. Late goals from teenagers Malik Olayiwola and Braiden Graham kept the Senior Cup hopes alive last week as the side battled from behind to overcome Northern Premier League side Lower Breck in stoppage time. The goals of Olayiwola and Graham, who have both been named in senior matchday squads by Moyes this season, secured a semi-final with Warrington Rylands.
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The U21s are set to face Borussia Dortmund in the last eight of the International Cup on March 18 with the Blues welcoming the German club's youth side to Walton Hall Park.
That opportunity follows an excellent group stage for Tait’s team, who smashed RB Leipzig and earned impressive wins over the youth sides of PSV Eindhoven and Monaco.
Before then, Keith Southern’s U18s will travel to face Manchester City in the last eight of the FA Youth Trophy. That game will take place on Friday (March 13) and comes after a dramatic run by the Blues that has seen them overcome Ipswich Town, West Ham United and Millwall.
Everton needed penalties to get the better of West Ham at Goodison Park before Graham, eligible for the U18s and U21s given he is 18, saved his team with a stoppage-time equaliser against Ipswich at Hill Dickinson Stadium before the hosts won that fixture in extra-time.
The U18s will head into that game off the back of a 5-0 win at Burnley at the weekend courtesy of goals from Jake Doughty, Freddie Murdock, Jonathan Nsangou and a Ray Robert brace.
Speaking after the game, Southern told club media: "We challenged the boys to put a performance on after not playing last week. They've trained really well leading into this and they've been champing at the bit to get out there and perform.
"Against Middlesbrough and Leeds, we got ourselves into a decent position and we didn't quite hang on to the lead for whatever reason. They're young lads, they're learning the game, so they're going to make mistakes, which is great and it's fine.
"But I thought it was a really dominant display today. We set our stall out, we had control of the game, we looked a threat at the top line with some really exciting patterns of play, which we've been working on.
"The challenge at half-time at 3-0 was 'could we keep a clean sheet?' I think we rode our luck a little bit in terms of that, and Burnley would probably feel unfortunate not to have scored at least one.
"But we were really clinical in the final third. I think that was the pleasing part. It was a really good morning and afternoon and it leads us into a nice week ahead against Man City in the Youth Cup now."