Liverpool U18s 2-1 Everton U18s: Young Blues beaten in difficult conditions at Kirkby
Blues suffer back to back defeats for the first time this season
Nathan Broadhead, Michael Donohue and Delial Brewster in action for Everton u-18s - but crucially striker Brewster was missing on Saturday
Everton Under 18s suffered back to back defeats for the first time this season after losing the mini-derby against Liverpool 2-1 in Kirkby.
Despite a spirited second half performance, which saw Delial Brewster score the Blues' goal, a poor first half saw them 2-0 down at the interval thanks to goals from Ben Woodburn and Adam Phillips.
The Blues were going in to the game looking to try and improve from their disappointing 8-0 defeat at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers last week and re-find their winning form.
Everton also handed a debut to Matty Foulds, who started his first game in the centre of defence since joining from Bury.
In similar fashion to the Wolves game the week before, the young Blues started off slowly and found themselves behind to a early goal.
Toni Gomes did well to find Woodburn on the overlap who managed to slot the ball calmly passed O'Loughlin to put the hosts in front in the second minute.
The first half was mainly dominated by Liverpool, who had chances to extend their lead through both Gomes and Conor Masterson but they couldn’t find the net.
Everton looked to have withstood that spell of pressure and started to create chances of their own.
Steven Kinsella produced a fantastic bit of skill on the right hand side and put a dangerous low cross in to the area, but it just evaded Nathan Broadhead and Jack Bainbridge at the back post.
However, just as the Blues looked to be building up a head of steam, Liverpool delivered a sucker punch.
Trent Alexander-Arnold delivered a great cross from the right hand side which the Everton defence struggled to deal with, allowing Phillips to bundle the ball home and extend the hosts' lead.
The second half was a completely different game, with the league-leaders definitely on the front foot.
Brewster, who had little service to deal with in the first half, started to cause Liverpool much more problems in defence and found Everton a route back in to the match in the 55minute.
Kinsella's corner fell to the striker who had found himself in a bit of space in the Reds' box and he smashed the ball in to the roof of the net.
The goal seemed to give the young Blues a new lease of life and moments later their best move of the game culminated in Brewster just being unable to control a good cross from Callum Lees.
Everton continued to knock on the door. A brilliant run from Michael Donohue right at the heart of the Liverpool defence led to the winger hitting the post with a shot from just outside the area.
However, Liverpool were still a danger and struck the woodwork themselves when a cross from Phillips was caught by the wind and looped over O'Loughlin.
Everton brought on Nathan Holland and he almost had an immediate effect, striking a powerful drive from the edge of the area which Shamal George in the Liverpool goal did well to gather.
Despite more pressure from Everton in the closing stages, the Blues couldn't find the breakthrough and Liverpool held on for a victory which takes them to within a point of their rivals in the Barclays Under 18 Premier League table.
The better team won - John Doolan
Everton Under 18s coach John Doolan admitted that the better side probably won the match in the end.
He said: "We were disappointed with the start of the game, again we conceded after two minutes. You can't keep doing that because you just give yourselves a mountain to climb and that showed again today.
"It's disappointing, and we're just going to have to keep working on it and get better.
"I think that we created enough chances to maybe try and get an equaliser, but it wasn't forthcoming. In the end I think the better team won.
"The lads have got to be big and get themselves up. They've got to come out and be better than what they've been in the last couple of weeks.
"There's no miracle cure for this, they've just got to be able to get their heads around it and do better, it's as simple as that."
That result means that Everton Under 18s have now only taken one point from their last three games, conceding 12 goals in that period.
Liverpool: Shamal George, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kris Owens, Conor Masterson, Corey Whelan, Liam Coyle, Ben Woodburn, Herbie Kane, Toni Gomes (Lennon 75), Adam Phillips (Alves 75), Ovie Ejaria (Lewis 90).
Subs: Brooks Lennon (Gomes 75), Caoimhin Kelleher, Kane Lewis (Ejaria), Paulo Alves (Phillips 75), Mich'el Parker
Everton: Ciaran O'Loughlin, Callum Lees, Spencer Myers, Joseph Yarney, Matty Foulds, Jack Kiersey, Michael Donohue, Jack Bainbridge, Delial Brewster, Nathan Broadhead, Steven Kinsella (Holland 81)
Subs: Arron Jones, Shane Lavery, Nathan Holland (Kinsella 81), James Yates, Danny Bramall
Liv Echo
