U21s beat Chelsea

11/04/2016

13 Comments [Jump to last]

Everton Under-21s recorded a solid 2-0 win over Chelsea at Stockport's Merseyrail Community Stadium this evening.

David Henen returned from his loan at Fleetwood to take his place in David Unsworth's attack and while he didn't make a dent on the scoresheet, Callum Connolly did to set the Blues on their way and Mason Holgate scored a second at the death.

Everton hit the woodwork twice through Harry Charsley and Kieran Dowell in a goalless first half and Russell Griffiths kept things goalless at the start of the second with a great save.

Connolly made the breakthrough 11 minutes after half time, though, when he headed home Dowell's corner.

And Dowell was involved in the set-piece that led to the second goal in the 90th minute when he and Charsley combined to set up Holgate for another header.

Everton: Hewelt, Jones, Foulds, Davies, Connolly, Holgate, Charsley, Williams, Evans, Dowell, Henen (Dyson 60')
Subs: Griffiths, Baningime, Brewster, Graham.

Reader Comments (13)

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Dave Weston
1 Posted 11/04/2016 at 21:16:53

Well done boys!!! Glad to see you doing well.

Anthony Dwyer
2 Posted 11/04/2016 at 21:57:04

Nice win.

Sam Hoare
3 Posted 11/04/2016 at 21:59:29

Good stuff lads. Dowell has to be close to some first-team time. He's been shining for the U21s for a while now.

Phill Thompson
4 Posted 11/04/2016 at 22:42:53

Dowell was mentioned in just about every paragraph there. And young Callum Connolly is a goal machine – that's him leading goalscorer for the U21s on his own now with 6 goals. Not bad for a guy who's played mainly left back, right back, centre back – oh and been away on loan for a month too.

John O'Brien
5 Posted 11/04/2016 at 22:47:20

Agreed, Sam. Dowell's deadball deliveries are a joy to behold and he can play a variety of them.

Some of them he will play in at pace, sometimes he'll dink it to the near post sometimes he'll drill it in at head height or play it to the edge. Much better than anything the current first team can do and also he has a number of clever routines like the one which made the second goal.

I think he's absolutely ready and I think the first team need a lift that he can provide. He's got more intelligence than any of our current attacking midfielders and he's one of our own.

Ciaran Duff
6 Posted 12/04/2016 at 00:49:40

A lot of negativity around the club at the moment and rightly so. However, we definitely seem to be doing well in the development of young players. Of course, translating that into first team results is the next big hurdle.

Dave Abrahams
7 Posted 12/04/2016 at 01:02:42

Who was in goal, Russell Griffiths or Hewelt? A good win.

I would like to see Dowell on the bench for the Crystal Palace or Southampton game, someone to look forward to, instead of the usual older players who are now past their best and don't inspire any hope of changing the game.

Alan J Thompson
8 Posted 12/04/2016 at 05:05:49

As the leading "money club", was there anyone in Chelsea's youngsters who stood out or is it still a future of buying everyone else's talent?

John Louis Jones
9 Posted 12/04/2016 at 11:12:06

Has anyone else seen the video of a fan kicking off at Martinez at the game? You know things are bad when you can't even attend an Under-21s game.

Sam Hoare
10 Posted 12/04/2016 at 11:24:14

I've seen it. Looks like Roberto wasn't too happy. Can't tell what they were speaking about. Pressure is mounting on the gaffer.

Paul Ellam
11 Posted 12/04/2016 at 15:18:20

I have mentioned it a couple of times on other forums that I believe we should play a few of our younger players during the rest of the season. Or at least involve them in the first team squad so they get a feel for what it's like on match days etc.

Who knows? These young players may even give the first team strugglers a bit of a kick up the backside!

Keep the best first team players like Lukaku, Barkley, McCarthy etc fresh/free of injuries for the FA Cup semi final (which is an actual chance to achieve something from this poor season) and play the likes of Dowell, Williams, Brewster etc in the league where we are stranded in mid table and has become meaningless.

It would be a great incentive for the young lads and also maybe cement their loyalties to the club and give them hope of a future with us.

Paul Thompson
12 Posted 12/04/2016 at 18:42:56

One thing is certain – if we played Dowell our corners and free kicks would improve massively! Check out the corner routine for the second (now up on the OS). For a change, that was really phenomenal.

Jay Wood
13 Posted 13/04/2016 at 18:54:59

Cute corner routine between Dowell and Charsley to set up the second goal. Very cute.

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