by Andrew Howard
Liverpool Under 18s thrashed Everton Under 18s 4-0 in the Merseyside derby at The Academy in Kirkby.
Goals from James McConnell, Oakley Cannonier, Bobby Clark and Stefan Bajcetic gave the hosts a comfortable win in a magnificent display from Marc Bridge-Wilkinson’s team.
McConnell opened the scoring in the 21st minute when McConnell smashed emphatically past Zan-Luk Leban in the Everton goal.
In truth, the Slovenian goalkeeper kept the Toffees in the game in the first half, producing a string of fine stops to thwart Liverpool.
First was from McConnell, a tremendous reflex save to prevent the forward from grabbing his second, then from a sliced clearance – again illustrating his reflex abilities.
Leban was powerless however to stop Oakley Cannonier from smashing Liverpool into a 2-0 lead just five minutes after the restart, following neat intricate buildup play.
Everton almost found away back into the game when substitute Martin Sherif thundered his shot off the underside of the crossbar, but that was the closest Paul Tait’s side came to scoring.
The Reds put the game beyond Everton’s reach when Bobby Clark swept home another flowing Liverpool move, before Bajcetic piled even more misery on the young Blues with a fourth goal in the 89th minute.
Sandwiched in between the two goals was Cannonier being denied his second of the game by the offside flag, as well as another flying save from Leban to deny Luke Chambers.
Everton had come into the match in second place in the Under 18 Premier League North table, a place above Liverpool, but the young Reds completely dominated to leapfrog their rivals in the table.
The result means the hosts climb to second whilst Everton drop to sixth.
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