By Rhys Lewis
November 15 2005

Everton reserves produced a gutsy display to come back from 2-0 down in the final 10 minutes against Manchester City reserves at Haig Avenue with goals from Victor Anichebe and Icelandic under-21 International Bjarni Vidarsson. It was Anichebe that nearly opened the scoring with a header around the half hour mark after a decent cross from Boyle. City took the lead just moments later after they broke down their left flank before Ismael crossed for Karl Bermingham who couldnt miss. City controlled much of the half and allowed Everton to create very little. John Paul Kissock was substitued at half time with what looked like a shoulder injury. He produced some neat touches and looked like the most likely player to create a chance for Everton.

The second half started in a similar way to how the first half ended with Man City's youngsters dominating the game. City soon doubled their lead after the break when once again they penetrated Everton's right hand side allowing Bradley Wright-Phillips in to power a shot home into the top corner, a shot which Richard Wright should have done better with. City had several opportunties to make it 3-0 but a mix of poor finishing and a couple of decent saves from Wright kept the blues in it.

It wasn't until 10mins to go when Everton started to look threatening. Vidarsson played a neat pass to Anichebe whose left footed shot from just outside the area flew into the bottom corner. The confidence that the young team gained from this was evident, you could see they believed they could claim an equaliser. And that equaliser came with just a couple of minutes remaining. A cross in from the right from Christian Sergeant should have been converted first time by Vidarsson, then 2 more attempts follwed with good saves before the promising Icelandic midfielder proded home from six yards. The action didnt finish there, with only seconds remaining Richard Wright produced a brilliant double save to make sure the Everton reserves come back was not all in vain.