BLUES SUFFER MINI-DERBY DEFEAT

Tuesday 9 March 2010, 17:21
by Antonia De Feo @antoniadefeo

Shane Duffy

Everton's Under 18s have suffered an agonising 4-3 defeat to Liverpool at Finch Farm on Tuesday afternoon, in a frustrating affair which saw the Blues finish the game with 10 men.

The Blues hosted the mini-derby after the fixture was rearranged following Everton's involvement in the FA Youth Cup, but it ended in extreme disappointment for Neil Dewsnip's young side.

It was experienced captain Jose Baxter who opened the scoring for the Toffees on 33 minutes - Liverpool's 'keeper Christopher Oldfield raced out of his area to clear, and the young forward chipped calmly into the net before Oldfield could claim it.

German Under-19 international Shkodran Mustafi then doubled the Blues' advantage on the brink of half-time, flicking the ball home from Baxter's corner.

Heading in with a comfortable lead at the interval, Everton were forced to play the second period with ten men as Shane Duffy received a straight red-card for a foul in the box just seconds in to the half.

Liverpool's Michael Roberts was the man to convert from the penalty spot to draw one back for the visitors.

The Reds soon found themselves an equaliser as Krisztian Adjoran netted from 12 yards out on 57 minutes, and soon found themselves ahead through Raheem Sterling – a recent acquisition from Queens Park Rangers.

But centre-half Aristote Nsiala inspired a potential comeback for Everton as he drew level just after the hour - slotting home from close range with his left foot.

Everton rarely threatened the Liverpool goal in the closing minutes and a foul from goal scorer Nsiala gifted the Reds with a second penalty ten minutes from time, which they converted to steal victory.

Academy head coach Dewsnip was unhappy with his side’s performance and says that they need to regain the form they showed prior to March in the next game against Huddersfield Town on Saturday.

Dewsnip said: “I didn’t think we did too well in the first-half and yet ironically we were 2-0 up, but what we did see was two pieces of immense quality from Jose Baxter.

“The scoreline flattered us in the sense that we could have done an awful lot better, but the second half got off to the worst possible start for us.

“We quickly found ourselves at 2-2, but we reorganised ourselves, made a couple of substitutions and changed our shape and did quite well for the next 15 minutes.

“A point would have been fantastic, but because they are still young footballers they don’t understand the state of the game. It’s really disappointing because the lads desperately wanted to win.

“But today the game changed on two moments of madness,” he added. “It’s really difficult to take, but we’ll get at it again, and get back to it Huddersfield at the weekend and get a really positive reaction.”

Everton: Davies, Nsiala, Garbitt, Mustafi, Duffy (sent off 46), Wallace, Donegan, Akpan, (Forshaw 61), McAleny (Orenuga 60), Baxter, Craig. Subs: Bidwell, Hope, Dobie.