If you haven’t heard of Braiden Graham by now, where have you been?
The Everton Under-21 striker notched his 16th goal of the season across all competitions on Thursday night at the Hill Dickinson Stadium and it was as vital and as late as it gets in a football match.
It was the 5th round of the FA Youth Cup against Ipswich Town and the Blues lined up as below, a couple of changes with neither Justin Clarke or Malik Olayiwola fit to play but there was a welcome return for promising right-back Rocco
Lambert and a place for the youngster Jonathan Nsangou in the #10 position.
The Blues got off to a good start as early as the 4th minute when Shea Pita scored after a lovely build-up involving Graham who had dropped deep, Pita himself and Lambert. The ball from Graham and the run from Lambert was worthy of any game and the finish by Pita, again on his weaker right foot, was unerring, 1-0
Sadly that lead didn’t last more than 3 minutes as the Tractor Boys courtesy of some slack marking by the Blues’ defence, levelled at the far post, 1-1.
Further unexpected and bad news followed as in the 34th minute Ipswich took the lead with another defensive blunder as two players McEveley and Poland failed to cut out a ball over the top and suddenly there was a hill to climb, 1-2.
Although the Blues made a raft of substitutions it got to the 96th minute when, with all seeming lost, Pita cleverly won possession deep in the Everton half, fed Demi Akarakiri, and his cross-field ball was played by Ray Robert to Kean Wren. The pass form Wren to Graham was perfectly weighted but the young Northern Irishman hit a shot that exploded into the South Stand, 2-2 and extra-time .
The Ipswich youngsters were clearly deflated, they were seconds away form the Quarter-final but hadn’t counted on Graham.
The extra-time period began with the Blues’ tails high but it took until the first minute of the second half when a blistering run by Graham to the left of the area allowed Robert to tap in for the lead, 3-2.
The next and contest-ending goal was a sad one for the battling youngsters from Suffolk. A long ball was misjudged between Ipswich goalkeeper and defender, resulting in the former heading straight at the latter 6 yards outside the penalty area. The ball apologetically bounced home from 25 yards, 4-2.
The next round (Quarter final) is a tough one away to Manchester City at a date in early to mid-March. Their free-scoring U18 team sits pretty at the top of the U18 Premier League with 12 wins out of 13 games and a + goal difference of 37 goals. The Toffees themselves however are 3rd in the table all without the Youth Team man-of-the-moment Braiden Graham who features exclusively for the U21s, so the task is far from impossible!
The delight at the end of the game for the Toffees youngsters was palpable. C’MON!!!!
Meanwhile the Blues also announced a new professional this week with Reuben Gokah signing on until June 2028 after only having been brought into the Academy last summer from Charlton Athletic’s set-up. He’s a promising ball-playing centre back and the club has high hopes for him. Congratulations Reuben!
