Everton Under-18s coach Keith Southern could not hide his disappointment after his side's 3-0 FA Youth Cup quarter-final defeat at Manchester City, who opened the scoring through a contentious penalty
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MARCH 13: Floyd Samba of Manchester City scores his side's first goal from the penalty spot during the FA Youth Cup Quarter Final match between Manchester City and Everton at Joie Stadium on March 13, 2026 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images)
Floyd Samba of Manchester City opens the scoring from the penalty spot in Friday night's FA Youth Cup tie but Everton felt it the award should never have been given (Image: Lewis Storey/Getty Images)
View Image
Everton Under-18s coach Keith Southern believes his team were “let down” in the controversial manner of their exit from the FA Youth Cup on Friday night.
The Blues were eventually well-beaten 3-0 by Manchester City, who progress to face Blackburn Rovers in the last four of the competition, but had matched their hosts for almost an hour at the Joie Stadium before referee Richie Watkins awarded a penalty following Ademide Akarakini’s challenge on Floyd Samba.
Replays showed that the Everton player won the ball cleanly.
Author avatar
Author avatar
Samba recovered quickly enough to convert the spot-kick himself and despite their stern resistance up until that point, the frustrated Blues had Malik Olayiwola sent off soon afterwards.
With their opponents reduced to 10 men, City took control, adding a second goal through Reigan Heskey before substitute Teddy Lamb added a third.
Southern told the ECHO: “We were absolutely more than a match for Manchester City until the penalty decision.
“We were well in the game and I thought we gave a really good account of ourselves, we went toe-to-toe with City until that decision.
“I think it was a poor decision. I think we were let down in that regard, it was quite cruel.
“We then had the double whammy of a player not responding in the right fashion has also hurt us by him being sent off the pitch.
“I haven’t been in to see him (the referee). I didn’t want to in that moment, I wanted to let it settle. I may go in shortly and ask but he’ll just say: ‘In my view it was a penalty’, and what else do you say really?
“I thought at the time that he got the ball. The ball deviates in the direction you would actually think it would do with that contact, so I didn’t think that it was a penalty at all.”
Asked about the sending off, which was also less than a clearcut decision with the ball out of play at the time, Southern said: “I think it would either be dissent or foul and abusive language.
“It will have fallen into one of those two categories, but it’s hard enough with 11 when you come to a place like this, but when you go a goal down and a man down, it’s nigh on impossible.”
The 44-year-old admitted that his strategy for the tie which had been going so well went out of the window in swift fashion following the quickfire brace of flashpoints.
Southern said: “We have some good players and a strong bench. The plan was to stay in the game, to get to the 65/70-minute mark, make changes and get some fresh legs at the top end where we have lots of attacking talent.
“We wanted to try and introduce that when we were in the game, 11 v 11, but it never quite materialised.”
Everton have shown character to come from behind to defeat Millwall, West Ham United and Ipswich Town on this cup run, but Southern admits he’s upset by the way things have ended for his team.
He said: “It’s about development and the players. I just felt really sick for the lads to be honest.
“It was a cruel way to exit something that’s been really positive throughout this season. Not just this cup competition but the day-to-day habits of these boys are excellent.
“They train really hard every single day. To exit the way we did today, leaves a little sour taste, I think.”