Fans who have followed the progress of the Everton Under-21s over the last few seasons will have been delighted to see the name of Stanley Mills (pictured in the teamsheet below) in Friday evening’s home game against Leeds United at Southport. His inclusion following recovery from a horrendous injury was a pre-match joy to see. Likewise, Coby Ebere took his place on the opposite flank of the attacking 3 in midfield after having missed the season so far with a hamstring problem.
Those inclusions were tempered by the absence of leading scorer Charlie Whitaker who has left on a permanent transfer and Luke Butterfield who has been the regular captain in centre midfield.
Any excitement was soon cast aside as some woeful defending by Odin Samuels-Smith and Jack Butler left Leeds with an opportunity to score after 24 seconds. Really poor and in my opinion goalkeeper, and captain, Zan-Luk Leban could have done better with Chadwick’s cross-shot, 0-1.
The lack of pace, strength and character in Everton’s defence was cruelly exposed again in the 7th minute as Leeds marauded down the Blues’ left again and with defenders not paying attention it was suddenly 0-2 courtesy of Coleman and looking embarrassing.
More big chances came Leeds’ way as the Toffees’ paper-thin midfield was frequently breached and the defence crumbled with regularity. Jack Patterson bravely blocked one shot in the area and Leban was keeping the score down with some brave saves.
Mills did have one effort after a good chest trap from Butler’s cross, but his left foot volley showed signs of rust from him, entirely understandable. Otherwise, Patterson had been one of the few to show fight as Leeds overpowered Paul Tait’s team. It could have been 0-5 easily such was the Yorkshiremens’ dominance.
Two substitutions were made at half-time and yet within a minute of the restart, Butler had to head off the line fomr a wayward defensive header by Callum Bates. The calamitous perormance seemed destined to continue as the unchanged formation was clearly not working against and aggressive and pacey Leeds team.
The Blues did go 0-3 down 11 minutes after the restart as Dixon lost the ball, nobody got back and Chadwick fired home his second at the far post.
Ironically this seemed to be the prompt for the side to change formation to a back 3 to compensate for the loss of injured Butler. Immediately, Dixon looked more comfortable and Isaac Heath, previously anonymous and outmuscled in a central role, began to make a difference at left wing back.
The Blues actually began to fire and fight back at this stage, Mills firing just over the bar before winning and converting a penalty, 1-3.
4 minutes later, substitute Martin Sherif, who had looked dangerous since coming on, was through on goal, pushed the ball wide of the goalkeeper who clearly caught him. No free kick/ penalty (it was right on the edge of the area)! A bizarre refereeing decision, Sherif had no reason to go down and the goalkeeper would probably have been red-carded.
In the 94th minute, Patterson saw a delightful curled shot well saved and from the follow up, Samuels-Smith’s header struck the upright. It ended 1-3, it was too little, too late.
In summary, the Blues were well beaten on what was an off-night for most of the team individually and, in my opinion, the manager for not altering the formation much earlier.
It was not all doom and gloom however. Stan Mills played 96 minutes in his first competitive match in a year and got better as the game went on, indeed I would rate him as man of the match in the blue shirts. Paul Tait implied before the game that Mills may only be with the Under 21s a short time as I am sure, if fit enough, he will be snapped up for a League loan.
Also showing some signs of promise were Patterson, Heath (second half) and substitutes Bradley Moonan and Sherif. The rest had a night that they should try to forget.
The team has a week to wait to put things right as they travel to Newcastle on Friday January 24th.
