Ten-Man Under-21s Suffer Defeat At Home To Southampton

Everton Under-21s fought until the end but succumbed to a narrow defeat to Southampton at Goodison Park.

After a professional first half in which the Toffees deservedly took the lead through Harvey Foster’s composed penalty, the dismissal of Josh van Schoor early in the second 45 gave Southampton a much-needed lift.

From there, the visitors dominated possession and eventually managed to put two goals past Douglass Lukjanciks through Princewell Ehibhatiomhan to complete the turnaround.

Everton suffered an early blow when captain Will Tamen was forced off with an injury, George Finney coming on to replace him and forcing a rejig of the back four.

Lukjanciks did well in the 12th minute to deny Korban McMullan, the Southampton midfielder hitting a fierce half-volley into the ground but seeing his effort held well by the Everton stopper.

But the Blues maintained control over the game, getting the ball into the Southampton box repeatedly without seriously testing Dylan Moody in goal. That was until Melvin Matos was clumsily kicked in the box in the 23rd minute.

Foster duly stepped up to despatch the resulting spot kick confidently into the top-left corner, Moody going the right way but well beaten by the pace and power of the strike.

Matos was brought down again just past the half-hour but was this time denied a penalty, while lively winger Joel Catesby forced a good stop from Moody in first half added time as the Toffees ended the first half on top.

But then came the major talking point just five minutes into the second half as van Schoor received a second yellow card for pulling McMullan’s arm as he ran into the box. That gave Southampton the numerical advantage and momentum in the game.

Ehibhatiomhan’s first in the 70th minute saw him shift the ball to a yard of space before lashing the ball past Lukjanciks into the top corner from 12 yards and the second just nine minutes later saw him finish calmly with the outside of his boot to convert Sufianu Dibaga’s low cross.

Speaking after the game, Head of Academy Player Development Dave Hughes told evertonfc.com: "To a certain extent (the red card changed the game), but I didn’t think we got any grip of the game. We got ourselves in front but I’m not sure we asserted any authority either with or without the ball.

"The sending off makes things significantly more difficult to get pressure on the ball and to retain possession. It didn’t help but the harsh truth and reality is that we were well below the level of last week from the start. Josh has apologised to the players. The sending off is daft but fair play to him for holding his hands up. It was a mistake but he’s young and he’s learning

"We made a few changes to give people minutes and opportunity but overall we struggled to build any momentum and as a consequence we lost the game. We didn’t do ourselves any justice and didn’t show the grit or spirit, nor were we brave enough to take the ball at times.

"We changed shape to try and nullify it a bit, but they made the pitch big and made it difficult for us. We made a couple of changes but that didn’t have the impact that we hoped. We ultimately got what we deserved, which was nothing."

The Under-21s return to Goodison Park on Wednesday night, taking on AC Milan in the Premier League International Cup (7pm kick-off).