On Friday night at Walton Hall Park ground as Storm Amy hit Merseyside, a nicely balanced Everton team took on table-toppers Manchester United who were on the back of a 5 game winning streak. The Blues
lined up as below with Francis Gomez (pictured below) and Jack Patterson in the engine room in a 4-2-3-1 formation against a top side.
The weather conditions were, at best, wintery and, at worst, atrocious. At one point during the game as the assistant referee stood over the corner flag as Jacob Beaumont-Clark prepared to take a corner, he got the flag forcefully straight in the face. That kind of capped an embarrassing night for the officials as, besides the usual plethora of debatable decisions by the referee, the 4th official seemed to have forgotten to bring the substitution/ added time board with him!
After the first few minutes of experimentation with the swirling wind, both sides, to their credit, set about playing the ball along the ground. Remarkably, given the prevailing conditions, the game was full of quality from both sets of players. It was immediately obvious that Manchester United are top of the league for a reason. How the Old Trafford faithful must hope for some of these players to be fast-tracked into their ageing and ailing first team.
United took the lead in the 11th minute unfortunately. Jack Fletcher, one of the two twin brothers in United’s line-up, leathered the ball left-footed from the edge of the area and it arrowed (apologies) into the top corner despite Pickford’s best efforts to stop it. It was a top goal, one his father, ex-United and Scotland player and now United U18 coach, Darren Fletcher, would have been proud to score himself, 0-1.
The Blues were more than holding their own and were unlucky in the 20th minute when a neat move between Gomez and Omari Benjamin set up Beaumont-Clark. Predominantly a left-footed right winger, he took on the defender on the outside and hit a really good effort strongly with his right foot and it was inches away from the far post.
One of countless brave blocks and tackles by the fearless young Irishman Patterson prevented another thunderbolt shot in the 24th minute and the Blues created a good chance for Aled Thomas as Beaumont- Clark’s corner was met with a strong header.
The deserved breakthrough came 3 minutes before the interval and what a fine goal! It started with strong tackles by Benjamin battling to win possession back and then towering defender and captain Will Tamen. The ball was fed to the impressive Joel Catesby on the left wing and he timed his released pass to perfection to the overlapping Josh Van Schoor. His fine cross evaded the stretching United goalkeeper and Benjamin dispatched a really difficult header into the net for a half-time scoreline of, 1-1. That’s Benjamin’s 2nd goal in successive games and capped a good individual display.
The second half was equally as good though fewer clear chances perhaps. United took the lead with a strong element of luck as, during a goalmouth scramble, Van Schoor’s clearance rebounded off the nearby United player Fitzgerald. The latter knew little about it but claimed the glory as the ball bobbled undeservedly into the corner of the net. It could have gone anywhere but the Blues’ luck was out, 1-2.
The Blues will feel hard-done-by. I liked what I saw in terms of endeavour, quality and organisation. Lots of good performances by the likes of George Finney, Francis Gomez, Jack Patterson and Joel Catesby, but Omari Benjamin’s execution of a difficult chance and his work-rate throughout, just edged it for me.
Meanwhile, the Under 18s’ scheduled match against Southampton on Saturday morning at Finch Farm was postponed on Friday night amid safety concerns and no doubt taking into account the distance the Saints would have had to travel.
Next up for the U21s is a trip on Tuesday October 14th to take on Bradford City (possibly including former Blues’ player Jenson Metcalfe) in the Football League Trophy and, for the U18s a home league game against Burnley on Saturday October 18th.
