Doncaster Rovers 2 – 1 Everton U21s
Everton U21s lost the first game of their participation in the EFL Trophy this season to Doncaster Rovers at the Eco-Power Stadium on Tuesday evening despite a late equaliser scored by Justin Clarke.
The competition is now called the Vertu Trophy after the latest change in sponsorship, and sees 16 Category One Academy Premier League development teams (Under-21s) pitted against senior professional first teams in clubs from League One and League Two. This season, Everton U21s play Doncaster Rovers, Bradford City and Grimsby Town in Group C of the Northern section.
A surprise inclusion in the Blues side was Adam Aznou, who played as part of his recovery from sustaining an injury soon after joining Everton from Bayern Munich. Aznou was named on the Everton first-team subs bench last weekend at Wolves but was withdrawn from the warm-up and declared unfit to play.
After the home side had scored early in the game, Justin Clarke fired in an equaliser 2 minutes into second-half stoppage time. But a deflected effort in the dying seconds stole the win and all the points for Doncaster Rovers.
Everton U21s: G Pickford, Finney, Campbell (46′ Samuels-Smith), Thomas, Tamen, Aznou (81′ Benjamin), Gomez (90′ van Schoor), Bates, Catesby (65′ Ebere), Beaumont-Clark [Y], Clarke.
Subs not Used: Davis, Moonan, Patrick.