Ring master
Player Valuation: £90m
Paul Tait hailed his side's second-half performance after Everton Under-18s rallied to a complete a well-deserved 3-1 victory over Newcastle United at USM Finch Farm on Saturday.
Having gone into the half-time interval one goal down, the young Blues turned it around when Lewis Dobbin's double and Tom Cannon's wonder goal completed a terrific comeback to move the Toffees back up to third in U18 Premier League (North) table.
"We didn't hit the standards we should be hitting in the first-half," Tait told evertonfc.com.
"We did start to create chances but we felt as if we were a little static in the formation that we were playing, so that was changed as well [at half-time].
"That second-half performance was much-improved, though, and we started to open them up."
After a tightly-contested 15 minutes, the away side made the breakthrough. A rare mistake from Jack McIntyre in the Blues' goal gave Josh Harrison the chance to open the scoring, and he prodded the ball home
Everton fought back after the setback and Dobbin ghosted through the Magpies' defence and watched his effort bounce back off the bar, before Liam Higgins' fierce strike drifted over.
As the game wore on, Everton continued to create chances, Cannon coming agonisingly close to latching onto Higgins' teasing pass.
Everton continued to push for an equaliser in the second half. Sean McAllister rose high but saw his header drift wide, before Sebastian Quirk drove his effort against the bar.
However, what Tait said at the break started to make an impact as the young Blues got on the front foot.
"To be honest, we had a little bit of a go at them,” he explained
"Sometimes young players need that. It can't always be an arm around the shoulder, you have to get after them a little bit and I felt I needed to get after them.
"They were a little bit flat in the first half and we were disappointed with our performance without the ball.
"We mentioned that at half-time and thankfully they responded."
After a heavy spell of Blues pressure, the equaliser came - Dobbin in the right place at the right time to take advantage of slack Newcastle defending to slide the ball in.
The momentum was with the hosts as the young Blues pressed for another and it nearly came when McAllister almost directed the ball home after a free-flowing counter-attacking move.
The next goal came soon enough, Cannon arrowing the ball into the top right-hand corner, leaving the Magpies' keeper helpless in the away goal.
The young Blues were relentless and with 15 minutes remaining, Dobbin doubled his tally. The England youth international latched onto Rhys Hughes' pin-point through-ball to stroke the ball in off the post to round off a hard-fought victory
Having gone into the half-time interval one goal down, the young Blues turned it around when Lewis Dobbin's double and Tom Cannon's wonder goal completed a terrific comeback to move the Toffees back up to third in U18 Premier League (North) table.
"We didn't hit the standards we should be hitting in the first-half," Tait told evertonfc.com.
"We did start to create chances but we felt as if we were a little static in the formation that we were playing, so that was changed as well [at half-time].
"That second-half performance was much-improved, though, and we started to open them up."
After a tightly-contested 15 minutes, the away side made the breakthrough. A rare mistake from Jack McIntyre in the Blues' goal gave Josh Harrison the chance to open the scoring, and he prodded the ball home
Everton fought back after the setback and Dobbin ghosted through the Magpies' defence and watched his effort bounce back off the bar, before Liam Higgins' fierce strike drifted over.
As the game wore on, Everton continued to create chances, Cannon coming agonisingly close to latching onto Higgins' teasing pass.
Everton continued to push for an equaliser in the second half. Sean McAllister rose high but saw his header drift wide, before Sebastian Quirk drove his effort against the bar.
However, what Tait said at the break started to make an impact as the young Blues got on the front foot.
"To be honest, we had a little bit of a go at them,” he explained
"Sometimes young players need that. It can't always be an arm around the shoulder, you have to get after them a little bit and I felt I needed to get after them.
"They were a little bit flat in the first half and we were disappointed with our performance without the ball.
"We mentioned that at half-time and thankfully they responded."
After a heavy spell of Blues pressure, the equaliser came - Dobbin in the right place at the right time to take advantage of slack Newcastle defending to slide the ball in.
The momentum was with the hosts as the young Blues pressed for another and it nearly came when McAllister almost directed the ball home after a free-flowing counter-attacking move.
The next goal came soon enough, Cannon arrowing the ball into the top right-hand corner, leaving the Magpies' keeper helpless in the away goal.
The young Blues were relentless and with 15 minutes remaining, Dobbin doubled his tally. The England youth international latched onto Rhys Hughes' pin-point through-ball to stroke the ball in off the post to round off a hard-fought victory
