Everton Under-18s secured a spot in the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup by defeating a spirited Stockport County 4-1 at Goodison Park on Tuesday evening.
Dutch striker Martin Sherif scored either side of Kylan Depeiaza’s leveller, before Matthew Apter and George Morgan sealed victory late on to set up a home tie against Chelsea next month.
Stockport started the brighter and would have taken the lead inside three minutes but Blues’ shot-stopper George Pickford expertly denied Lee Williams’ efforts.
Kingston Fligg then went close, with full-back Joshua Van Schoor doing well to deflect his attempt away from goal, before Ashton Mee and Depeiaza also saw their attempts blocked.
Everton grew into the contest and started to threaten, with Aled Thomas’ 19th-minute header falling agonisingly short and then Sherif’s effort narrowly missing the left-hand side of the goal.
Morgan then embarked on a promising run down the left flank, delivering a low drive to Joel Catesby. However, the opposition's resolute defence blocked the attempt.
Harrison Armstrong added to the spectacle with a brilliant attempt that grazed the crossbar. Minutes later, a well-executed corner on the left side forced a decisive save from the visitors' keeper Kane Mavarantziotis-Bove.
Eventually, Everton’s pressure paid off as a corner orchestrated by Callum Bates provided the breakthrough. Sherif rose effortlessly above the defence, heading the ball past the keeper and into the net for a 1-0 lead.
The contest was far from over, however, as the Hatters mounted a spirited comeback in the additional two minutes of first-half stoppage time. Depeiaza's determined drive eluded Pickford, levelling the score at 1-1.
The Blues fought back in the second period and regained control of the tie in the 59th minute when Armstrong’s flick-on was powered home by Sherif for his second of the night.
Stockport continued to battle bravely, but second-half substitute Apter took the game away from them in the 86th minute when his superb strike from a half-cleared corner flew into the top corner to give the Blues a two-goal cushion.
Sherif was then denied a hat-trick when he blazed a stoppage-time penalty over the bar, but it didn’t matter as Morgan sealed the deal with a fourth in the 100th minute to grant the young Blues a well-deserved victory and set-up a fourth-round tie against Chelsea in January.
On the win, Head Coach Baines said: "Stockport played well, especially in the first half. They had good shape and were well organised and it was difficult for us to find the right spaces and play with a cutting edge. Credit to them for that.
"We improved after the break and a lot of that is understanding the game has to speed up at the right moments. A lot of that comes down to the real small details that the lads have been practising and working on - things like positioning and pass detail.
"Some of the things we discussed beforehand started to click in and, once we got the goals, they had to move away from their organisation. We then controlled the tempo and changed the speed of the game and got a really nice goal at the end.
"It was a good team goal and epitomised what we believe a team goal should look like. We had large spells of controlling the tempo but with that control there has to be an urgency. When the moments presented themselves, we managed to take advantage a couple of times."
