Sunderland u18 2-4 Everton u18

Everton Under-18s made it two wins from two as they ran out 4-2 winners at Sunderland.

Having beaten Manchester United last time out, the young Blues had to be patient in their quest for goals in the northeast.

But Nathan Broadhead curled a fine free-kick into the top corner to open the scoring.

Substitute Delial Brewster marked his return from injury with a goal, before Nathan Holland and Broadhead once again put the Blues out of sight.

But the Black Cats refused to buckle, and in the final 10 minutes, pulled back a pair of goals to take the gloss off the performance.

Nevertheless, it was a pleasing away display for current Under-18s coach Paul Tait. “We did played very well, although I must say we didn’t start great – we were still on the bus it seemed!” he said. “But we stayed in the game and didn’t concede.

“We lost Shayne Lavery to injury – thankfully he is fine, it was a coming together with one of their centre halves – and that meant we changed the system a little bit, and pushed Nathan Broadhead up from number 10 to our lead striker, and we grew into the game.

“Nathan put us ahead with a great strike and then we brought on Delial, who has been out for a while, and he grabbed a good centre forward’s goal – a scrappy tap in.

“To round it off, Nathan has scored a really, really good second – he’s beaten three men then finished well.

“So we were cruising but we took our foot off the gas and conceded two late goals, which is disappointing because the lads had defended well as a team. But they will learn from that.

“Overall I was really delighted with the performance, particularly with some of the forward play.”