U18s score 5 again in 8-goal thriller at Finch Farm

Saturday, 21 October, 2017 12comments | Jump to most recent

Everton Under-18s made it back-to back wins as braces from Anthony Gordon and Fraser Hornby helped them overcome Manchester City 5-3 in a thrilling contest at Finch Farm today.

Manchester City, unbeaten, faced a Blues side fresh from an emphatic 5-1 win over Sunderland in their last outing, who continued where they had left off by taking the lead inside the opening minute. Manasse Mampala latched onto Anthony Gordon's through ball before coolly finishing past City keeper.

Two minutes later and Tait's side were handed a golden opportunity to double their lead when Gordon was tripped inside the City box, but his sot-kick was saved only for to City to equalize with their first chance of the game.... and City went further ahead on 19 mins.

The young Blues weathered the City storm and levelled on the stroke of half-time, with Mampala this time turning provider for Gordon.

The second half was a much more one-sided affair with Paul Tait's side dominating from the first whistle. And on 57 minutes, the young Blues' dominance was rewarded with Gordon collecting his second of the game.

Coach Tait then decided to freshen things up by introducing Fraser Hornby and the forward had an immediate impact by bagging the young Blues' fourth of the game. Gordon ghosted past two City defenders before finding Hornby, who turned his man with ease and fired an unstoppable strike into the roof of the net.

Eight minutes later, and Hornby notched his second by finishing off a fine team move. Denny and Gordon combined before the latter fed Mampala whose low cross was turned home at the back post by Hornby.

City would get one back but it was another five goals for the rampant Young Blues.

Everton U18s: Hilton, Richards, Moore, Collins, Ouzounidis, Denny, Duke-McKenna, Scully, Mampala (80' Adedoyin), Gordon (87' Corke), Iversen (63' Hornby).
Subs not Used: Johnson, Kerr.

Longer match report at EvertonFC.com

Reader Comments (12)

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer

Eric Paul
1 Posted 21/10/2017 at 18:25:56

Is this against Man City's elite development squad?

Alan J Thompson
2 Posted 21/10/2017 at 18:31:22

Eric (#1); I think that would be the not so elite, well not now, haha haha. Now, to match their money.

Martin Mason
3 Posted 21/10/2017 at 18:49:56

So strange how good our young teams are and yet how poor our foreigner packed first team squad is. Exactly the same with England, they are brilliant at every age group below the senior squad and yet rubbish at that level. Where does the conveyor belt break?

Charlie Lloyd
4 Posted 21/10/2017 at 18:49:59

Anthony Gordon scores and assists again. He's having a great season so far.

Phil Greenough
5 Posted 21/10/2017 at 19:01:35

The conveyor belt breaks when they get too much money for playing in the Premier League. They don't have to work hard then, they've got on board the gravy train.

Tony Abrahams
6 Posted 21/10/2017 at 19:05:08

England are Brilliant at every level except senior level Martin? You told me the other day that I don't understand economics, but I'm sure I understand when people are being economical with the truth!

Tim Locke
7 Posted 21/10/2017 at 21:21:45

Martin, I would guess that it would be because most young players stay in their own country, so most of the people you are playing against are your peers.

As time goes on, clubs buy the best 1 or 2 from those youth teams and put them into a club side who are better than the 11 young players in the youth team.

Peter Gorman
8 Posted 21/10/2017 at 21:55:37

Fraser Hornby is back! Brilliant.

Sam Hoare
9 Posted 21/10/2017 at 22:02:24

Early days but Anthony Gordon might just be a bit special...

Tony Hill
10 Posted 21/10/2017 at 22:07:29

Have you seen him live, Sam? How good?

Charlie Lloyd
11 Posted 22/10/2017 at 00:14:18

Tony @ 10.

I saw the summer tournament in, I think, Croatia. I watched all the games via a Facebook link. Gordon looked pretty decent. He was well at ease in the final third where some others seem to go to pieces. Early days yet though and as others have mentioned it's how he progresses from promising to genuine recognised quality that matters. He's on the right track though.

John Dean
13 Posted 22/10/2017 at 19:11:59

Its good to know Fraser Hornby is back. He's come a long way since he was signed as a skinny, playmaker with an eye for goal. He's now got the frame of a centre-forward, can receive, retain and turn with a plus good mobility and scores regularly.

He and Gordon will terrorise defences this year. A few seasons ago, both would probably have made their u23 debuts by now. I watched Tom Davies' u23 debut at age 16 as a late sub and he arrived without much of the fanfare that these two lads have created.

Add Your Comments

In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.

» Log in now

Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site.

About these ads