Everton Under-18s 3-0 Middlesbrough

Everton Under-18s kept up the pressure on league-leaders Manchester City with a 3-2 win at Middlesbrough on Saturday afternoon.

The young Blues picked up their sixth win from the opening eight games with goals from Nathan Broadhead, Michael Donohue and Delial Brewster against 10-men Boro.

Everton began the game brightly, hitting the hosts from the first whistle and that early dominance would turn into a clear advantage when the Teeside outfit had a man sent off on 12 minutes.

The Toffees then took the lead through Welsh forward Broadhead, before winger Donohue headed home a second on 35 minutes.

Boro fought back and, after a corner was only half-cleared at the near-post, the hosts capitalised and made it 2-1 on the stroke of half time.

They would then equalise midway through the second half, before Everton stepped up a gear, striking the crossbar and forcing the home goalkeeper into a string of superb saves.

On 80 minutes, Brewster grabbed his side’s 20th goal of the campaign with a header and this time the Blues would hold on to their lead.

Academy coach John Doolan, who took over the reins from Paul Tait as per the unique rotation system in place at Finch Farm, was pleased with his team’s forward play from kick-off.

“Boro were champions last year and so we were prepared for a tough game, but the start we had was brilliant,” he told evertonfc.com.

"We started on the front foot, we took the game to them straight away. We knew they were going to keep having a go and they deserved their goals because despite them going down to 10 men early on, they stuck at it and took advantage of two bits of sloppy play from ourselves.

“But we should have won by seven or eight - their goalkeeper made some brilliant saves. It was good that all our forward players scored in the end."

With leaders City four points ahead but having played two games more than the Toffees, Doolan is happy to see his charges keep pace for the time being.

“That’s all we can do,” he added. "As long as you don’t let the team at the top get away, as long as we can keep within touching distance with our games in hand, I think we should be alright - especially if we play like we did today."