Season › 2019-20 › News U23s come unstuck at Fulham Sunday, 6 October, 2019 2comments | Jump to most recent Fulham U23s 2 - 1 Everton U23s To round out a dreadful weekend for the club at all upper levels, Everton Under-23s began their defence of the Premier League Cup with a narrow 2-1 defeat at Fulham on Sunday. Kyle John levelled for the young Blues in the second half but the Londoners' late winner inflicted a first defeat of the campaign on David Unsworth's team. At the Cottagers' Motspur Park training base, Everton had the game's opening chance as early as the second minute. Anthony Gordon, deployed on the right, won a corner and Ryan Astley powered a header over the bar. Fulham hit back — Nico Hansen's palms stung by a rasping drive from Ben Davis — as both sides used the early exchanges to prod and probe for openings. As the half wore on, and with Fulham's rearguard proving its worth, Everton tried their luck from long range, but the home keeper saved comfortably from Beni Baningime and then Gordon. However, it was the hosts who broke the deadlock on 36 minutes as Luca de la Torre fired home from close range. At the break, Unsworth introduced Kyle John and Manasse Mampala — in place of Dennis Adeniran and Ellis Simms respectively — and the change inspired a much-improved showing from the young Blues. Indeed, the latter had barely entered the field of play before he fed Matty Foulds down the left and when he crossed for Gordon, hands were on heads as the 18-year-old steered over the bar. However, Gordon was unperturbed. On the hour, he won a free-kick 25 yards from goal. Taking it himself, the youngster came within a whisker of drawing Everton level, smacking the crossbar with the keeper well beaten. Another dipping effort from a set-piece had him scrambling to tip the ball over, but the Toffees finally drew level on 66 minutes. Mampala squared the ball from the left and John tucked home from a few yards out. But Fulham snatched victory against the run of play. On 78 minutes, Jaydon Harris was left unmarked and he finished emphatically past Hansen. Defeat then for Everton, but there is plenty of time to rebuild with five more group stage fixtures to come. Everton U23s: Hansen, Astley (84' Denny), Foulds, Adeniran (46' Mampala), Feeney, Gibson, Gordon, Baningime [Y], Simms (46' John), Markelo, Charsley. Subs not Used: Tyrer, Joe Anderson. Reader Comments (2) 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 Sam Hoare 1 Posted 06/10/2019 at 18:21:19 Of course. U18s hammered by the RS. First team now in the relegation zone. U23s beaten.And Man City drop points at home to hand the RS a golden opportunity to win the league.One of the worst Everton weekends for a long time and that's saying something!! Jack Convery 2 Posted 06/10/2019 at 22:41:16 Countries, businesses have bad days – Black Friday for example – but Everton being Everton have to go one better and have the Shit Weekend! Very Everton, that. Something has to change or all will be lost! 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