A very young Everton team took to a cold Goodison Park in the FA Youth Cup 4th round tie on Friday night against West Ham United. They lined up in a 4-4-2 formation as below with England Under 18 goalkeeper Douglass Lukjanciks (main picture) captaining the side from the back. They still had some players with Under 21 experience, indeed both Malik Olayiwola (pictured) and Braiden Graham have warmed David Moyes’ first team bench in recent weeks:
It was a scrappy nervous affair in the first quarter hour but a piece of class saw Olayiwola slide Graham in for what looked like the opening goal in the 16th minute but it was correctly ruled out for offside.
Twice within 10 minutes the Blues found themselves struggling to clear following a Hammers corner. From the first one, Lukjanciks produced a great save to keep it goalless. It was from the second instance in the 29th minute that the Blues fell behind as the visitors’ skilful player, Beckford, neatly evaded the challenge of Kean Wren and fired home, 0-1.
The Hammers’ attackers, especially out wide, were causing problems and it looked like the Toffees would go into the second half trailing. The one thing that Keith Southern’s team has in abundance however is spirit. It was a bit of persistence that forced a West Ham error fully 50 yards from goal and, after a neat touch from Ceiran Loney, Braiden Graham carried the ball and predictably arrowed home, 1-1.
The equaliser spurred the Blues on and at 45+5th minute great play by Olayiwola allowed Akarakiri to play a fantastic through ball which left a Hammers defender grounded. Shea Pita had a lot to do but fired home confidently.
The second half in truth was really scrappy. There was an 80 yard run by Graham and a shot by Olayiwola deflected narrowly over but, in the 68th minute, a penalty was rightly awarded and converted by West Ham, 2-2. Blues’ substitute Jonathan Nsangou almost celebrated his 16th birthday with a near post goal but the game went to extra -time.
Exhaustion and cramp in extra time was beginning to affect a lot of the players on the pitch but a few in particular, notably the exciting Olayiwola. He had to be helped off the pitch by two of his own players while the Blues’ physio embarrassingly shuffled around the pitch with his hand in his pockets!! To make matters worse, Olayiwola was asked to walk off the pitch the long way, a full 30 yards longer than the other way, you couldn’t make it up!
Graham went close and Lukjanciks made some smart saves during extra time but it finished level and penalties were to decide the outcome.
Ray Robert, Brendan Graham and Justin Clarke all scored for the Toffees whilst Nsangou’s kick was saved. The real hero though was the skipper Lukjanciks (below) who saved 3 on the trot, 3-0 on pens (sound familiar?)
The Blues have now thoroughly earned a home tie in the 5th round against Ipswich Town, well done, enjoy the celebrations!!!
At their best the Blues play some very attractive attacking football. The one-touch intuitive play between the trio Akrakiri, Olayiwola and Graham was excellent for periods of the game. The right flank interplay between the very hard working Melvyn Matos and Shea Pita was impressive and likewise between Louis Poland and Kean Wren on the left.
My man of the match has not been mentioned. 16 year old centre back Lewis Evans playing alongside 15 year Harlow McEveley was simply faultless and inspirational.
Meanwhile, on Friday it was announced that Will Tamen, captain of the U21 side (pictured below), has gone out on loan for the rest of the season to nearby Tranmere Rovers, currently lower-mid table of League Two. He’ll be a massive loss to Paul Tait’s side but I’m pleased for him to be back playing men’s football. He had a brief taste of it at Burton Albion and a short loan with Northern Premier League side Mickleover last season. The 19 year old towering centre back will not be put off by the physicality, I fear more for the opposing forwards! Good luck to him and hopefully he can push on next season at Everton.
On the centre-back front, someone who has been unable to feature this season because of a cruel injury shortly after he joined as a scholar, John Dodds (pictured below) has signed a professional contract through to June 2028. The club clearly like what they’ve seen. Not really seen much of him but he’s a very tall highly rated centre-back in the modern mould.
Next up for the youth teams is the eagerly-anticipated visit of RB Leipzig to play the U21s in the Premier League International Cup on Tuesday January 20th and a relatively short trip to visit Stoke City for the U18s on January 31st.