The pick of the three games for the Everton Youth teams was undoubtedly the Under 18s game against Manchester City at Finch Farm at the weekend.
This was an exceptional result against the runaway Champions who ended the season with a massive goal difference of +57! The young Toffees had done well themselves to finish 4th but maybe the writing was on the wall when they found themselves behind to a Lamb finish after 15 minutes and a 2nd goal by Lamb, a cool Panenka penalty kick. That was after Blues’ ‘keeper Seve Patrick had fumbled the ball then fouled the player. 0-2 on the stroke of half-time.
Straight from the kick off in the 2nd half, tenacity by Malik Olayiwola won the ball in the City area and set up Ceiran Loney to coolly take his shot to reduce the arrears, 1-2.
Olayiwola again showed determination 6 minutes later to set up a run down the right by Francis Boggan. The ball landed for Loney and although the big striker couldn’t get his shot away, the ball landed at the feet of Jake Doughty to smash home the equaliser, 2-2.
Another 6 minutes later it was City back in front as Gorman’s drive beat Patrick high up at his near post, 2-3.
We only had to wait 3 minutes for the Blues’ equaliser and that was following good work by Olayiwola and Amari Moses. Loney was on target again driving his shot low past the City ‘keeper, 3-3.
The goals were getting even faster as a minute later following great pressing by Olayiwola and Doughty, the latter cut inside to send a nice shot curling over the goalkeeper for 4-3.
After 71 minutes the result had truly swung the Toffees’ way as a great cross from left back Harvey Billington was headed home by the delighted young Scotsman Loney at the far post, 5-3 and the Blues even missed a penalty by Doughty in added time. The goals are below:
Meanwhile the U18s also experienced a bit of a low before that as a very young team was put to the sword away to Sunderland last Tuesday. The teams lined up (below) with several schoolboy players in the team and on the bench:
That inexperience was evident in the goals below (look away now) as they lost 0-4:
The most recent Youth game was on Monday night in the strange end of season tournament against the top sides from the Professional Development League (👇 😔 😔\*Premier League 2 and largely Championship teams). They lined up as below (Joel Catesby as the main picture):
Everton, after two games had reached the semi-final against Huddersfield Town and, on a cold night in West Yorkshire, the Blues struggled to get any pattern in their early play. They fell behind in the 39th minute as possession was conceded just inside the opposition half. What followed was an unchallenged 50 yard run by the impressive Smith-Sway to the edge of the Toffees’ area and a shot that comfortably beat George Pickford, 0-1.
The Terriers had already hit the post twice by that stage so probably deserved to be going in with a half-time lead except the Blues pulled an equaliser back at the death as Shea Pita’s nice in-swinging corner was bizarrely headed into his own net by Togo, 1-1.
Everton were much improved after the break no doubt after a verbal rocket from Paul Tait. The impressive Blues’ right back Luca Davis saw his fine cross headed just over by Callum Bates and Omari Benjamin saw a smart spin and snapshot saved but the game drifted into extra-time.
A promising move by another Blues substitute Kingsford Boakye saw Benjamin just fail to get proper connection with his backheel but disaster struck for the young Ghanaian winger shortly afterwards. Having already been booked, Boakye went to ground in the penalty area after some contact from the home defender. There was no way it was enough for a penalty-kick but neither did he go looking for a spot-kick award. He received a harsh 2nd yellow and the game changed.
Huddersfield hit the post for a 3rd time before a player overload allowed an easy tap home by Spencer after 102 minutes, 1-2. Five minutes later it was game over as, despite a great covering tackle by Josh Van Schoor, the ball fell kindly for Spencer to grab his brace. 1-3.
It was a disappointing end to the season for the Blues who have no games left. Several regular players like Huddersfield-born Reece Welch, Boakye and Odin Samuels-Smith appear to be out of contract next month and will not feature next season unless fresh terms are offered. That’s highly unlikely for Welch and Boakye who are 21 or over and would count towards David Moyes’ 25 man squad.
Braiden Graham barely got a sniff of goal this time out but can be pleased with his exploits this season. Both teams have now finished their league campaigns with the Liverpool Senior Cup the remaining competitive fixture for the U21s.