Braiden Graham Stars as Everton U21s Fall in Thrilling EFL Trophy Opener

Everton Under-21s lived through the full range of emotions at Edgeley Park – from shell-shocked, to inspired, to broken – as they lost a wild 6-3 EFL Trophy opener to Stockport County.

They were three down. Then level. Then blown away again.

And through the chaos, one teenager in royal blue refused to go quietly.

County cruise, Everton crumble

Jimmy McNulty ripped up his weekend team-sheet and changed all 11 from Stockport’s League One win at Plymouth Argyle. It didn’t weaken them enough for Everton’s youngsters to notice.

From the first whistle, County pinned the visitors back. Everton, under new head of academy player development David Hughes, barely laid a glove on them in the opening half-hour.

The breakthrough came on 11 minutes and it was laced with a little history. Malik Mothersille – the Croydon-born Jamaica international who once had a trial with Everton U21s but never earned a deal – punished his former suitors.

Callum Camps slid a neat ball through as Everton’s back line waited for a flag that never came. George Pickford got something on Mothersille’s finish, but not enough. The ball squirmed over the line, and the tone was set.

Stockport kept coming. Everton kept wobbling.

Just before the break, the pressure told again. Trying to play out from the back, captain William Tamen was caught in possession and Camps was gifted a simple finish. It was a harsh lesson in the risks of building from deep against a hungry senior side.

Then came the killer. With the final touch of the half, Jason Adigun slipped the ball through Tamen’s legs and squared for Mika Mandron to make it 3-0. Everton trudged off looking beaten, outmuscled and out-thought.

Graham ignites a comeback

What followed after the restart was the kind of surge that keeps academy coaches believing in this competition.

On 51 minutes, operating from the right, Braiden Graham spotted a gap and exploited it. His delivery into the box was precise, and Joel Catesby met it with the calmness of a veteran, slotting home with an assured finish.

For Catesby, a Birkenhead-born forward who suffered a broken leg in this very competition at Bradford last October, it was more than just a goal. It was a moment of redemption.

The game flipped. Everton suddenly played with purpose.

Three minutes later, they had another lifeline. Melvin Matos, bandaged after an earlier head knock and very much in the thick of it, was chopped down by Owen Moxon. Graham took responsibility from the spot, sent Lucas Ashby-Hammond the wrong way and buried it to the keeper’s right.

From 3-0 down to 3-2 in four frantic minutes. Stockport, so comfortable before the break, now looked rattled.

Everton sensed it. They pushed higher, passed quicker, and Graham kept demanding the ball.

On 77 minutes, the Northern Ireland prospect produced the moment of the night. Collecting possession on the edge of the box, he shaped his body and curled a superb effort beyond Ashby-Hammond. From nowhere, Everton were level at 3-3. The away bench erupted. The comeback was complete.

Briefly.

From revival to collapse

The parity lasted barely a minute.

Almost straight from the restart, substitute Tayo Edun arrived at the back post and drilled Stockport back in front. Everton’s concentration, so sharp during the fightback, evaporated in an instant.

Sixty seconds later, they were staring at the scoreboard in disbelief again. Mothersille, ice-cool, finished low to restore daylight at 5-3 and swing the mood back entirely in County’s favour.

Everton’s legs went. Their belief went with them.

In stoppage time, Mothersille completed his hat-trick, capping a ruthless display and sealing a scoreline that felt brutal on the visitors’ attacking effort but entirely fair on their defending.

From 3-0 down to 3-3, then 6-3 down in the space of 14 second-half minutes. A lesson in game management, and in how quickly young sides can unravel.

Player ratings

• George Pickford – 5 Produced decent saves to deny Adigun and Mandron, but on a night he conceded six, the first goal will haunt him. Got a hand to Mothersille’s opener and couldn’t keep it out, and one miscued kick cannoned into Mandron to invite more pressure.
• George Finney – 5 A tough assignment and it showed. The teenager, who has had a loan spell at Ayr United, battled but looked raw. This display underlined he is not yet the ready-made answer to Everton’s wider right-back issues.
• William Tamen – 4 A bruising night for the captain. Having helped Tranmere Rovers stay in the Football League last season, he endured a very different experience here – robbed for County’s second, nutmegged before the third, and guilty of an earlier cheap giveaway to Ryan Rydel.
• Luis Gardner – 5 Never truly settled alongside Tamen in the first half. While he avoided the glaring errors of his partner, one wildly ambitious diagonal summed up a shaky opening period.
• Joshua Van Schoor – 5 Pinned back for long spells and rarely able to break forward as he has in recent outings. Booked for a challenge on Mothersille that had home fans baying for a red.
• Harvey Foster – 5 Fresh from scoring in the senior side’s 4-0 win at Dundee last month, he found this a very different stage. Spent long periods chasing shadows as County dominated the midfield.
• Harry Brookes – 5 Overrun in the centre during a one-sided first half. Stayed on long enough to be part of the early second-half revival, but was the first Everton player withdrawn.
• Braiden Graham – 9 Outstanding. Switched to the right and lit up the game. Set up Catesby’s goal with a sharp cross, dispatched the penalty with authority, then bent in a superb equaliser from the edge of the area. The clear standout in blue and a performance that demanded attention.
• Melvin Matos – 7 Involved from the opening minutes. Suffered a head injury, returned bandaged and in a blank shirt after his first was bloodied, then threw himself into the contest. Clattered Arttu Hoskonen, went down under Lewis Fiorini’s challenge, and crucially won the penalty after being fouled by Moxon.
• Joel Catesby – 8 A goal that meant everything. Took Graham’s cross with composure and finished clinically. Given his horrific injury in this competition last season, this was a powerful step forward.
• Ceiran Loney – 5 Worked hard but lacked conviction at key moments. Went one-on-one with Ashby-Hammond and hesitated, allowing the keeper to clear, then couldn’t sort his feet or angle on a later chance created by Justin Clarke.

Substitutes

• Jack Patterson (on 57 for Harry Brookes) – 6 Injected energy and legs as Everton chased the game.
• Justin Clarke (on 70 for Joel Catesby) – 7 Made an impact from the bench, carving out a fine chance for Loney and adding drive in the final third.
• Aled Thomas (on 83 for Luis Gardner) Introduced late, just before Stockport’s fifth. Little time to influence events.
• Omari Benjamin (on 83 for Melvin Matos) Another late arrival with the contest already slipping away.
• Jonathan Nsangou (on 83 for Ceiran Loney) Came on as the game ran from Everton. Limited opportunity to show his qualities.

Everton’s youngsters leave Edgeley Park with a bruising scoreline, a hat-trick against them from a player they once trialled, and a reminder of the gulf in physicality and nous at this level.

They also leave with one bright, burning positive: the emergence of Braiden Graham as a genuine attacking force.

If he can carry this form into the rest of the EFL Trophy campaign, how long before the noise around him reaches the first-team door?