If you ever thought that watching Everton’s first team struggles is dull then the one thing you can guarantee with the youth teams is that there is never a dull moment!
Both teams were in action this last weekend and both fought back to victories after conceding first. To put that into stark and telling contrast, the first team, under Sean Dyche and his predecessor Frank Lampard, have achieved that just once in the last two years when the Blues beat Crystal Palace in September at Goodison. So, for all the rhetoric about the first team showing “resilience” and being “relentless”, the place to actually see that happen is with the teams managed by Paul Tait and Leighton Baines!
Starting with the Under 18s, they actually went two down before battling back to victory.
After what looked like a decent penalty shout not given in the 9th minute for a challenge by the visiting Derby goalkeeper on Braiden Graham, the Rams swept up the pitch quickly. McAndrew got between Blues centre back pairing of Luca Davis and Joshua Van Schoor and just evaded the covering tackle of George Finney to slot home. 0-1.
The same gap between the same two Blues defenders was exposed again just 9 minutes later when Eames made it two for County, 0-2.
The comeback was initiated 6 minutes into the second half when Graham hit a delightful curling 20 yard free kick over the defensive wall to beat the goalkeeper at his near post. That’s a goal a game average for Graham ….. “remember the name” as someone famously said! 1-2.
As if to rubber stamp his own credentials, it was Graham again, just after the hour mark, who received a throw in to the left angle of the penalty area before slaloming his way past two defenders. His shot was deflected in for an own goal. The shot may possibly have been creeping wide but the making of the goal was all down to the Northern Irishman, 2-2.
The comeback was complete in the 75th minute when interplay between Graham and substitute Ray Roberts saw the ball fall to Justin Clarke who made no mistake for his 6th goal in the 4 games since his arrival from Wimbledon in September! 3-2.
The only black mark was when Clarke disappointingly saw red 3 minutes after scoring what turned out to be the winning goal. A great result nevertheless and the goals are below:
Following suit with the comeback trail, the Under 21s were at home to Stoke City on Saturday and found themselves behind after just 4 minutes as Chibueze just got to a left wing cross before Blues’ goalkeeper Fraser Barnsley, 0-1.
If Graham is in fine form for the Under 18s, he has his counterpart at Under 21 level as Charlie Whitaker levelled after 20 minutes. Picking the ball up 40 yards from goal he set off towards the opposition area, finishing with a sliding right foot shot, 1-1 and good goal, his 6th of the season.
The Blues took the lead just before the hour when Jacob Beaumont-Clark’s great right wing inswinging corner kick was met by a towering header from young Welsh centre back Aled Thomas, 2-1.
The next goal came from a left wing corner kick this time by Isaac Heath just 4 minutes later that found Thomas’ centre back partner Bradley Moonan unmarked at the far post. He made no mistake with his header, 3-1.
It was the fine left foot again of Beaumont-Clark that cemented the win in the 1st minute of added time. With the help of a distracting overlapping run by Roman Dixon, he cut in from the right and unleashed an unstoppable shot low into the corner at the near post, 4-1.
Despite the fine result, manager Paul Tait was staying grounded afterwards in his comments:
“I thought it was a scrappy game. Stoke came here, fought for their lives and they put a display on. The first-half was ugly and scrappy, we got drawn into the fight and could not really play enough football. We decided that we were going to play in their half more in the second half. We made a couple of changes to give us a chance to do so, I think it worked.
“The pleasing thing was that we gave lads opportunities who had not played for a while, young George (Morgan) came up and played from the Under-18s. We changed the team around a bit just because of the three game week and we knew we had the lads to come on and freshen us up. We did that and I thought the second half was much better.”
“It has been a fantastic week for the development of the players. We had the Liverpool game and everything that comes with that, to see that through was good. In the EFL Cup, we were disappointed that we did not win that game. Today, there was pressure on the players that knew we had to win and get three points.
“We were expected to get the three points, but it does not always work like that, you have got to turn up and produce. All in all, it has been a really good week for the lads.”
The goalscoring Under 21 action is below:
Continuing that comeback theme, our Under-21s also responded well to conceding first as they dominantly dispatched Stoke City 4-1 in Southport on Saturday afternoon. pic.twitter.com/xgbu5OOcoA
— Everton Academy (@EvertonAcademy) November 4, 2024
Next up for the Under 21s is a home Premier League Cup game against Cardiff City on Friday while the Under 18s are in league action the following morning away to Manchester United.
