'Proud' Tait On 'Fantastic' Mini Derby Victory

Omari Benjamin’s second-half brace saw Everton Under-21s defeat Liverpool 2-0 in Kirkby in the Premier League 2.

The 18-year-old opened the scoring with a sweeping finish across Kornel Misciur, before netting his second in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time by capitalising on a mistake from the goalkeeper.

Under-21s Head Coach Paul Tait struck a delighted figure in his post-match interview, telling evertonfc.com: “It is a fantastic win, the lads are absolutely buzzing in the changing room! I am so pleased for them.

“We have been shipping too many goals recently. We have been playing really well but we have just let too many goals in. Today, to come to Liverpool and get the clean sheet is a testimony to the work that we have put in in training over the last couple of weeks. They carried it out today and were fantastic, every single one of them.”

Everton goalkeeper Zan Luk-Leban impressed between the sticks, producing several crucial saves and commanding the Blues' backline throughout the contest.

“Zan was excellent," said Tait. "He is an excellent goalkeeper, we are lucky to have him. He is in and around supporting the first-team so he has not gone out on loan. We are lucky to get him for the odd game, he is a fantastic lad and we all love him. He had a great game today, he made some really good saves.”

It was Benjamin who grabbed the headlines, though, with his derby day double securing three points for the Toffees.

Tait continued: “He will grab the headlines, the two goals are really good for him. Playing as a nine through the middle for us, his work rate again was outstanding and he got his rewards.

“Honourable mentions are him and Zan, but for me it was a real team effort today. The units, the way the worked together, I am really proud of the players.”

Attention now turns to midweek, when the Blues face Accrington Stanley on Tuesday night in their final Bristol Street Motors Trophy group stage fixture.

Tait added: “We have got a quick turnaround for Tuesday, we have got a big game at Accrington that we need to win to get through.”