Everton Under-23s assistant manager John Ebbrell admitted his frustration the young Blues could not convert a dominant display into victory after they were held to a 0-0 draw with Swansea City at Goodison Park on Saturday.
The Toffees bossed the game for large periods and created a host of chances but the Swans escaped L4 with a point.
The result means Everton have amassed five points from their opening three Premier League 2 games, following an opening day draw at Chelsea and a home victory over Leicester City earlier this week.
Ebbrell is convinced the young Blues should have another victory under their belt, though, and says his players did not get the result their performance merited.
“I’m disappointed for the players, really,” he told evertonfc.com. “For large spells of the game we were dominant.
“Swansea were well organised but we created so many chances. I’m just disappointed for the players that we weren’t able to kill them off. We felt, if we got one, we could have got two or three.
“We ended up drawing a game where the effort of the players, and some of the play we produced, deserved a victory.”
There were three changes to the Everton side that edged out Leicester 1-0 on Monday night, with Jonjoe Kenny, Joe Hilton and Dennis Adeniran coming into the side for Nathangelo Markelo, Joao Virginia and Joe Williams, who joined Bolton Wanderers on loan earlier this week.
The young Blues started the game on the front foot and went agonisingly close to taking the lead on 15 minutes when Matthew Pennington’s glancing header from Nathan Broadhead’s corner went just wide.
The Toffees continued to look the more threatening side and, in a 10-minute period before half-time, carved out a slew of guilt-edged chances.
First, Antony Evans’ brilliant slide-rule pass put Fraser Hornby through one-on-one with Swansea ‘keeper Gregor Zabret but the Slovenian stopper made a fine save.
Broadhead’s wicked corner delivery then found Bassala Sambou who headed fractionally off-target, before Hornby again went close after an excellent Everton move. Kenny fired a pass into the path of Evans, who took the ball his stride before cutting it across to the Scotland Under-21 international who shot just over from close range.
The second half followed the same pattern, with Broadhead going closest to finding a winner. His bullet header forced a fine save from Zabret and the Welshman was onto the follow-up in a flash, but his shot hit the side-netting.
And he was inches away from breaking the deadlock when his swerving shot from the edge of the box went wide of Zabret’s post.
The Toffees were almost hit with a sucker punch two minutes from time when a header from Marco Dulca forced a stunning save from Hilton low down to hit right-hand side.
The game finished in stalemate, though, and Ebbrell says his side must be more ruthless in the final third.
“We got in some many good areas and it was either a poor pass, a poor decision or a poor finish that cost us,” he said. “That’s part of the players learning, they will play in games where they get far fewer chances and win - but that makes this game all the more galling.
“Our best spell was either side of half-time and we created and just disappointed we didn’t put those chances away. But there was lots of good play in terms of what we’ve been working on.
"I think the signs are good for the season but we want to be winning games where are as dominant as were today."
Everton team: Hilton, Kenny, Pennington, Browning, Galloway, Evans (Gordon 73'), Adeniran, Charsley, Broadhead, Sambou (Bowler 73'), Hornby (Lavery 65')
