Everton 1-3 Man City

Everton under 18s suffered a disappointing 3-1 defeat to Manchester City at Finch Farm, despite a solid display from the young Blues. 

After an earlier 1-0 defeat to City in September, Neil Dewsnip's side were looking to build on last week's 2-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, and record their second victory in seven days.

Goalkeeper Adam Davies was forced into action after just five minutes as City were rewarded a penalty - the young stopper making an excellent save to prevent the visitors from breaking the deadlock.

Davies' save triggered the Blues to continue their efforts; however it was City who opened the scoring after 10 minutes.

The young Blues found themselves two goals behind after 20 minutes, but an excellent free kick from midfielder Nathan Craig pulled one back for the Toffees on the half-hour mark.

The visitors held on to their lead going into the break, and added to their tally after 75 minutes with an excellent strike.

As the Blues continued to put in a sterling effort, they couldn't find a response to City's two-goal lead, with the game ending in a dissapointing and undeserved defeat.

Despite the result, Academy Coach Kevin Sheedy admitted he was pleased with the young Blues' performance, against what proved to be a strong Manchester City side.

"City played very well, said Sheedy. "We certainly matched them for effort and endeavour. But on the day we conceded two sloppy goals from our point of view, which didn't help.

"They scored a very good third goal so we're disappointed by the result, but the effort the lads put in was top class."