Everton U18s draw 4-4 at Man City

Today's U18 match finished 4-4 , from 2-0 down we lead 4-2.

I don't know if City were fielding a younger side than Everton's but they were certainly much smaller across their entire team. Small they may have been but they were also very neat in possession and lively in attack and took an early lead resulting from a poor goalkeeper clearance which allowed their left wing to get into the box and cross for a far-post tap-in. City found their way to our goal line very easily and regularly after that and we were fortunate to concede only one more goal in the first half.

Our big players in midfield, Alex Denny, Michael Collins and Jack Kiersey, struggled to retain possession, partly due to their clumsy ball skills and partly to the speed of the City players. We also badly lacked a ball winner in midfield and the absence of Baningime was telling.

But the game was changing. Antony Evans and Shane Lavery started up front but Lavery dropped into left-sided midfield and the tall Fraser Hornby joined Evans as twin striker. Dan Bramhall became more and more effective on our right wing. He was very direct, using his speed and sharp acceleration from a standing start to go past his defender to the goal-line or get in an early cross. He was a constant threat that City couldn't defend against. His early cross late in the first half allowed Hornby to get his head to the ball just before their keeper; 2–1.

Early in the second half and Evans produced a lovely bit of skill to free Bramhall and his accurate cross was confidently headed home by Hornby after he had made space in the box. It was constant Everton pressure for a while and we were rewarded first when Jack Kiersey was played in and he coolly found the bottom corner and then Hornby scored from the spot after being brought down.

But Everton then lost forward momentum as Bramhall tired and he wasn't a threat for the last quarter of the game. City's 3 subs refreshed them and they again ran rings round our midfield and defence, scoring two late goals in the process.

So, a very entertaining game that included plenty of bite from both sets of players, resulting in more bookings in this game than the Beatles got in the year before they went to Hamburg.

While disappointing to lose a two-goal lead it's still a great result against the team setting the pace at the moment. I was interested in you saying Michael Collins was in midfield as previously he seems to have been played as a central defender alongside Callum Lees.

Hornby looks like he's progressing from a reasonable midfielder for his age into a big attacking threat / striker who's scoring lots of goals of late – I think that's 11 so far this season for us, plus 2 or 3 for Scotland U19s.

We may have a pair of future strikers in Evans and Hornby.

I was surprised to see Harry Charsley playing really well as right-wing back in another wonderful game at Southport's ground last season when I'd previously only seen him in midfield.

Dave – I hope you're right about Evans and Hornby as they did look good together even though playing without a good supply from midfield.