Everton U21 4 Brentford U21 2: 10-man Bees knocked out of PDL play-offs in quarter-finals by Toffees
Everton U21 4 Brentford U21 2: 10-man Bees knocked out of PDL play-offs in quarter-finals by Toffees Brentford Under-21s were knocked out of the Professional Development League play-offs at the quarter-final stage as Everton Under-21s beat the 10-man Bees 4-2. Luca Picotto opened the scoring in the seventh minute before Luca Davis levelled just before the end of a first-half in which Brentford dominated. Josh Stephenson was shown a second yellow card early after the restart and Ademide Akarakiri's strike and Braiden Graham's brace put the game beyond the young Bees.
Ethan Laidlaw pulled one back late on but it was too little, too late. The Bees started the game really strongly - Riley Owen's well-earned free-kick was glanced across goal by Laidlaw, needing only a touch to be converted in the second minute, but his flick-on evaded the arriving red and white shirts. Sam Saunders' side deserved the lead that they found on seven minutes after dictating the intensity of the opening moments.
Theo Mawene slid in Kyrie Pierre down the right, who cut the ball back perfectly to Picotto , converting calmly to make it 1-0. On 13 minutes, the young Toffees' had their first sight of goal as Akarakiri arrived on the edge of the box, but Matas Klimas was brave to throw his body in front of the curling effort and block the ball. Owen was a live-wire in the centre of the park for the west Londoners and had an effort from range on 27 minutes after drifting into a pocket of space, but his bending strike was too close to George Pickford.
On the half-hour mark, Picotto came as close as possible to adding his and Brentford's second of the evening. The left wing-back pressed from his own half in to the penalty area, where Reece Welch misjudged the flight of the ball. Pickford rushed out to meet Picotto, who struck the inside of both posts with his desperately unlucky effort.
Michel Boni then had a snap-shot half-volley from the edge of the area fly just wide of the right-hand post as the Bees pushed to make their control count. On 34 minutes, the striker should have doubled the advantage, snatching at a left-footed strike from close range when Pierre had earned him time with a clever knocked-down header. Then, on the brink of half-time, Everton had an equaliser against the run of play.
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