Everton U21’s were beaten 4-2 by Nottingham Forest U21’s this afternoon, while seeing two first team players come through unscathed, writes Daniel Paton at Finch Farm.
The Toffees started the first half on the front foot, with Armando Broja getting the better of the Forest defence on a couple of occasions, laying it off for Youssef Chermeti to flash a shot just wide.
The Albanian striker is still recovering from an achilles injury which saw a summer move to Ipswich Town evaporate, and started alongside fellow first-teamer Chermiti as they both look to return to the Everton squad after layoffs.
After a brief stoppage from the referee, Nottingham Forest grew into the game, as they pushed the young Toffee’s further back and were eventually rewarded for their efforts.
Adam Berry pounced on a loose ball, drove down the right and played a ball across the box for striker Joe Gardener to latch onto. The forward duly obliged, sweeping his first time effort into the bottom left corner and past the despairing dive of George Pickford in the Everton goal.
Forest didn’t stop there, as they looked to make the most of their spell of pressure, and just two minutes before half time they doubled their lead.
Everton were not switched on from a quick Forest set piece, as they worked the ball sharply down the left and flashed the ball across for Gardener to grab his and Forest’s second.
The home side were forced into a late first half change, as Pickford went off with an injury, replaced by Fraser Barnsley as they went into the break two down.
The second half started as the first ended, and Forest were quick to press home their advantage.
After squandering a great chance for his hat-trick just moments before, Gardener made no mistake the second time around, as he was put through the Everton backline by Jack Nadin, and calmly slotted past the goalkeeper.
Nadin was then on the scoresheet himself just minutes later, tapping in at the back post after another ball across found its way past the Toffees defenders.
The hosts finally showed signs of life four minutes later, as skipper Luke Butterfield latched onto a rebound following Chermiti’s shot on the hour and a third goal in six crazy minutes.
Everton then reduced the deficit further courtesy of another rebound. This time it was Broja slipped through, and his parried effort fell for Charlie Whittaker to tap in to make it 4-2 with more than 20 minutes still to play.
The Toffee’s huffed and puffed but were not able to make further inroads as Forest saw the game out and picked up a deserved victory after their dominance throughout the game.
