Everton Under-21s head of academy player development David Hughes was left ruing his side's slow start after they lost 6-3 to Stockport County in their opening EFL Trophy fixture at Edgeley Park. The young Blues were 3-0 down at half-time and, despite fighting back to level at 3-3, were ultimately beaten in front of a 1,538 crowd.
Hughes on the comeback and frustration
Hughes, who arrived at the club on July 8, told the ECHO: “Whatever game we play, we want to win. We want to do that with an identity that is befitting of the club and I think we all know what that looks like but ultimately we want to win.
“Being 3-0 down at half-time was a mountain to climb and needed to be better. From there, to get back in was positive, but whatever game we’re in, we want to win.
“It was a massively frustrating first half. We didn’t perform anywhere near the levels we were capable of or we anticipated.
“We didn’t play forward enough, we didn’t run forward enough. We were a little bit passive and allowed them to get on top of us through some unforced errors.
“In the second half was arguably what we asked the players to do at the start really. We get back to 3-3 and there was great character from the players, they deserve a huge amount of credit for that.
“But having got back into it at that stage, you can’t then make a couple of unforced errors that lead to goals again. It’s hugely disappointing for sure and there’s lots of learning for us in regards to the guys and they’ll take a lot from this.”
Bright spots in defeat
A couple of bright spots for Everton on a tough night were the displays of their goalscorers. Braiden Graham bagged a brace having set up Joel Catesby – who suffered a horror injury at Bradford City in the same competition last year – for the opener, with Melvin Matos also impressing having battled back from an early head injury.
Hughes said: “Braiden had an excellent hand in all three of our goals. I’m pleased for him to get a couple and get some minutes under his belt, so that’s positive for him.
“I don’t really want to go through the whole team individually, but I thought Melvin Matos deserved great credit for the way he played in the middle of the pitch. He got tight and made it uncomfortable for people, putting them under pressure and ultimately that’s what a midfield player needs to do, and I thought yet again he was excellent this evening.
“It was a great moment for Joel. He’s had a positive pre-season actually. For him to get a goal today is excellent. He showed some glimpses in that half an hour period in the second half of what he’s capable of.
“We know there’s more to come from them individually and collectively. When you’ve seen the level that we’ve produced in that small window, we have to aspire to deliver that for 96 minutes.”
Learning from experience
Hughes, who was in charge of League Two Newport County last year, admitted it is always difficult for young players in this competition, with academy sides having made few inroads against senior sides from the lower divisions.
He said: “They’ve played against a huge amount of experience this evening, some seasoned professionals who have all been in this situation that the young players find themselves in. So, of course, the most important part is that you want to learn.
“The lads need to learn, and they need to gain that experience to elevate their game to the next stage of the journey. But ultimately we have to make sure that first 30 minutes isn’t evident again and learning takes place.
“If it is, we have to ask questions over where we are, grabbing things and improving moving forward. There are definitely some positive elements of the performance but that said, when you get beaten and concede six, there are definitely areas of the game that we have to improve.
“We need to make the pitch compact, be difficult to play against, dominate our duels. We’ll debrief with the lads and feed back to them, looking to ensure in the next game of the tournament we don’t deliver what we delivered in that first 45 minutes.”
