Goodison Park, over the years, has produced some truly memorable night games under the floodlights with heaving crowds and an electric atmosphere. Usually we are talking about full house of near 40,000 spectators roaring the first team on yet this was a far cry from a heaving crowd. On a cold and breezy Friday night, just a few hundred witnessed a truly remarkable performance as Paul Tait’s Under 21s played their last league game of the season to wrap up a campaign that had promised much but had,
frankly, faltered in the last few months.
The Blues lined up as per the team-sheet below, a strong line-up that featured a midfield 3 and, to some surprise, Braiden Graham up front with centre forward Omari Benjamin moved to the left flank. They were taking on a very good Ipswich Town team that, with a victory on Friday could have moved to 3rd in the table whereas Everton were a lowly 22nd:
In a fascinating but very open game, the Blues took the lead after 6 minutes as a pinpoint Luca Davis cross was expertly met with a cushioned volley at the near post by Braiden Graham, 1-0.
Pickford had already pulled off a smart save but 5 minutes later, after a slack pass by Aled Thomas gifted possession, the Tractor Boys took full advantage with an easy finish from Fletcher, 1-1.
The recently returned Blues’ midfielder Harvey Foster was beginning to shine in midfield and from one of his through-balls to Graham, an Ipswich defender almost scored a spectacular own goal, hitting the post and seeing Benjamin’s follow up cleared.
Foster did get his first assist though after 36 minutes as his perfect left wing corner was met with a fine back-header from Omari Benjamin, 2-1.
The goals were coming thick and fast as Ipswich equalised after 38 minutes through Compton with a top-corner finish that Pickford could do nothing about, 2-2.
A whole two minutes before the next goal and this time it was a right wing pinpoint corner by Foster that was expertly headed home by Kingsford Boakye, 3-2.
It said a lot about the quality of the corner-kick deliveries by Foster (see below) as the two goalscorers were amongst the shortest players on the entire pitch, but credit also to them for their positioning and heading ability!
After the interval it was widely expected that the goal glut would be over. Pickford made a fine save to deny Ipswich and at the other end, following a great cross-field run by Graham, a wonderful Luca Davis low curling cross missed being converted by two Toffees attackers by inches.
Unbelievably though, Ipswich equalised for a third time after 53 minutes as a good left wing attack was met with a perfect header by Fletcher to make it 3-3.
In keeping with the pace of the match and the regularity of the goals, the Blues regained the lead for the 4th time after 55 minutes when Ipswich conceded a needless but definite penalty. Benjamin’s marauding 40 yard run into the penalty area was met with a silly challenge just before the ball was going out of play and the referee rightly pointed to the spot. Graham took the penalty kick for his second of the game, a confident finish to the top corner, 4-3.
In the 61st minute, after a neat build up play, Callum Bates played a lovely through ball to the smartly-positioned Graham and he scored expertly for his hat-trick, 5-3.
After 66 minutes the Northern Irishman, who has had a lean spell in front of goal recently, took advantage of the first real howler of the night as the visiting goalkeeper came out of his area to deal with Reece Welch’s long ball. His misjudgement only served to allow Graham past him to roll in his 4th from the edge of the penalty area into the unguarded Gwladys Street net. 6-3 and a quadruple for Graham!
Paul Tait made a raft of changes shortly after that and we witnessed the comical sight of Graham keeping as far away from Paul Tait’s dugout as he could possibly get. For a young man that was far from invisible on the night that’s exactly what he tried to become to avoid being hooked! He was hungry for more and thankfully he was kept on as his night was not over.
After 73 minutes, the Suffolk team, via Nelson, pulled a goal back after some slack play by the Toffees on the edge of their own area. That made it 6-4.
As if 10 goals on the night wasn’t enough, the crowning glory came in the 81st minute with a truly spectacular 25 yard strike by Callum Bates into the top corner after being set up by Joel Catesby and Francis Gomez, 7-4.
Substitute Malik Olayiwola thought he had made it 8 after being played in by Catesby only for a narrow offside decision to rule it out.
Minutes later and the rout was indeed complete as Graham turned provider and played Shea Pita in for a lovely right footed finish, 8-4!!!
It was a nice end to the season for this young team, most of whom will be in the Under 21s again next term. As for Braiden Graham, that’s actually 22 goals this season (he scored 4 in the FA Youth Cup for the U18s). A remarkable return given he has regularly played on the left wing. Goal of the night was undoubtedly Bates’ hammer shot. Had the netting not been secure it would probably still be travelling! Here it is in isolation from the 11 others!
The Toffees will now enter a knock-out competition with teams from the league below to round off the season. After the thrilling encounter on Friday night, that sounds a bit of an anti-climax and if the next run of games is short the boys can leave this season behind with their heads held very high indeed.
