Everton Under-18s remain in the running to retain their league title after a last-gasp equaliser earned the young Blues a 1-1 draw against Manchester United at Finch Farm on Saturday morning.
Jordan Thompson, against the run of play, opened the scoring for the visitors but a sensational stoppage-time free-kick from substitute Antony Evans gave Everton a much deserved point.
In perfect weather conditions, the Blues were on the front foot straight away and George Dorrington in the Manchester United goal had to be at full-stretch to tip Nathan Broadhead's effort around the post within the opening two minutes.
Shortly afterwards, Nathan Holland and Harry Charsley both went close with efforts from outside the box and it would continue to be one-way traffic throughout the opening half.
Just on the stroke of half-time, Broadhead had possibly the best opportunity to break the deadlock and it all started from the Blues putting the visitors under pressure, a theme that was apparent from start to finish.
Broadhead picked up the loose ball and the midfielder shrugged of numerous challenges from oncoming defenders to find himself one-on-one with the keeper but his curling effort went just wide of the target.
The young Blues would then step it up another gear at the beginning of the second half, with Delial Brewster - who was a handful throughout the contest - stabbing an effort just wide after right-back Arlen Birch had found him in the box.
Everton continued to push for that opening goal and on the hour mark James Graham was denied by the woodwork. Skipper Jordan Thorniley flicked on a Holland corner and Graham fired at the United goal but Dorrington managed to get a hand to his attempt and tip it onto the post.
And, shortly after, the Blues would be dealt a sucker-punch.
Despite the Toffees' domination, it was the visitors that took the lead on 74 minutes through Thompson.
Manchester United counter-attacked on the left-hand side before Thompson was found in the box and he fired low into the bottom corner to put his side ahead.
It looked as though Everton had paid the ultimate price for not taking their chances but, with 90 minutes on the clock, substitute Spencer Myers was fouled on the edge of the box giving the hosts one last chance.
Evans, who had entered the fray with just 13 minutes remaining, stepped up and rescued a point for his side with a superb free-kick to keep Everton in the chase for a second successive Barclays Premier Academy League title.
“I thought it was an excellent performance by our lads today,” said Under-18s coach Kevin Sheedy. “We dominated the game for about 75 minutes, up until they scored.
“We huffed and puffed a little bit in front of goal, so that was the biggest disappointment for all our domination - we didn’t score when we were on top.
"But that’s how football is; they have one break away and score.
“But again the lads showed great resilience and determination to keep on going right to the end and we got the equaliser in the last minute with a tremendous free-kick from Antony Evans.
“Antony puts a lot of work in after training, he practices free-kicks all the time and none of the staff were surprised when it went in the top corner, because he’s been doing that.
“So that’s a good lesson to the other players that if you practice really hard, you get the benefits. It was a really nice moment for Antony and a great equaliser for us.”
