Braiden Graham Stars Despite Everton U21s' Late Collapse Against Stockport

Everton’s youngsters lived through just about every emotion Edgeley Park could offer – deflation, belief, euphoria, then a brutal crash back to reality – as they lost a chaotic 6-3 EFL Trophy tie to Stockport County.

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

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

Stockport ruthless, Everton rattled

Jimmy McNulty, back on familiar Merseyside-linked ground after his own time in Everton’s academy, rang the changes. Eleven of them. Not that you’d have known from the way Stockport took control.

County dominated from the off and struck first on 11 minutes. Everton’s back line stopped, arms raised, waiting for an offside flag that never came. Callum Camps slid a clever pass into Malik Mothersille, and although George Pickford got a hand to the shot, the ball still trickled over the line. A bad goal to concede, and Pickford knew it.

Everton never settled. Their attempts to play out from the back invited trouble and, just before the break, Stockport pounced twice.

First, captain William Tamen was caught on the ball in a dangerous area. Camps didn’t need asking twice, rolling in a simple second.

Then came a gut punch with the final touch of the half. Jason Adigun slipped the ball through Tamen’s legs and squared for Mika Mandron, who finished to make it 3-0. Everton trudged off looking shell-shocked, their centre-backs at sixes and sevens, their midfield overrun.

Graham drags Everton back

Whatever was said in the away dressing room at half-time, it worked – and one player took it personally.

Operating wide on the right, Braiden Graham decided he’d had enough of being a passenger in someone else’s training exercise.

On 51 minutes, he produced the first moment of real quality from Everton. Graham shaped a smart cross into the box, picking out Joel Catesby, who finished with calm assurance. For Catesby, who suffered a broken leg in this competition at Bradford last October, it was a quietly powerful moment – a return to the scoresheet after a long, painful road back.

Suddenly Everton had a spark. Three minutes later, they had real hope.

Melvin Matos, already bandaged up after an early clash had left his shirt bloodstained, drove into the box and was chopped down by Owen Moxon. Graham stepped up to the spot. No fuss, no hesitation. He sent Lucas Ashby-Hammond the wrong way, rolling the ball to the keeper’s right. From nowhere, 3-2.

Stockport wobbled. Everton sensed it. Harvey Foster and Harry Brookes, who had spent most of the first half chasing shadows, at least started to disrupt County’s rhythm. Jack Patterson’s introduction added legs. The game opened up.

Then came the moment that should have defined the night.

On 77 minutes, the ball broke to Graham on the edge of the area. He didn’t rush it. One touch, then a curling strike that arced beautifully beyond Ashby-Hammond and into the far corner. A hat-trick of contributions – assist, penalty, and now a stunning equaliser.

From 3-0 down to 3-3. Everton’s bench erupted. The away end believed. The comeback was complete.

For about 60 seconds.

Comeback killed in 120 brutal seconds

Everton’s joy barely had time to settle before Stockport ripped the game away from them again.

Straight from the restart, the hosts surged forward. A cross from the right found substitute Tayo Edun arriving at the back post, and he drilled in to restore County’s lead on 78 minutes. All the hard work undone in a single lapse.

Everton were still reeling when the next blow landed. Another minute, another goal.

Mothersille, who had tormented them all night, found space again and finished low and composed to make it 5-3. The defending, once more, was loose and panicked. The earlier calm in possession from the back had long gone, replaced by rushed clearances and poor choices.

By now, Tamen’s nightmare evening was complete. He had been dispossessed for the second goal, nutmegged in the build-up to the third, and never truly recovered his composure. Luis Gardner, alongside him, avoided individual calamities but never looked settled.

Late changes – Aled Thomas, Omari Benjamin, Jonathan Nsangou – arrived with the game already slipping away. There was no second miracle comeback coming.

In stoppage time, Mothersille twisted the knife. Completing his hat-trick with another assured finish, he sealed a 6-3 scoreline that felt harsh on Everton’s attacking efforts but entirely fair on their defending.

Player ratings

• George Pickford – 5 Produced decent stops to deny Adigun and Mandron, but a keeper beaten six times will always feel exposed. Will be especially frustrated with the opener, having got a hand to Mothersille’s shot. One poor kick straight into Mandron summed up a jittery night.
• George Finney – 5 A tough assignment. The teenager, who has already had a loan spell with Ayr United, battled but looked raw. This performance underlined that Everton’s long-term right-back issue won’t be solved in-house overnight.
• William Tamen – 4 A grim evening for the captain. Caught in possession for the second goal, nutmegged before the third, and guilty of earlier slack passing to Ryan Rydel. Helped Tranmere Rovers stay in the Football League last season, but this was a step backwards.
• Luis Gardner – 5 Part of a centre-back pairing that never truly got to grips with Stockport’s movement. No glaring individual errors to match Tamen’s, yet an attempted ambitious diagonal that sailed nowhere summed up his uncertainty.
• Joshua Van Schoor – 5 Pinned back for long stretches and rarely able to break forward as he has in recent games. Booked for a challenge on Mothersille that had the home crowd baying for a red. Spent more time firefighting than influencing.
• Harvey Foster – 5 Fresh from scoring in the first team’s 4-0 win at Dundee, this was a harsh reminder of the step up. Often left chasing shadows as County overran the middle of the pitch.
• Harry Brookes – 5 Swamped in that first-half midfield battle. Couldn’t impose himself before being withdrawn just before the hour, though he at least stayed on long enough to be part of the early second-half surge.
• Braiden Graham – 9 Outstanding. Switched to the right and lit up the game. Delivered a precise cross for Catesby’s goal, buried his penalty with authority, then curled in a superb equaliser from the edge of the area. Everton’s clear standout and the main reason the comeback ever looked possible.
• Melvin Matos – 7 Involved in everything. Suffered an early head injury, reappeared with a bandage and an unnumbered shirt after blood stained the original, then threw himself into the contest. Clattered Arttu Hoskonen, went down under Lewis Fiorini’s challenge, and earned the penalty after being fouled by Moxon. Never hid.
• Joel Catesby – 8 A genuinely heartening moment when he scored. The Birkenhead-born forward, whose leg break in this competition at Bradford last season was horrific, took Graham’s pass and finished with calm conviction. Worked hard before coming off on 70 minutes.
• Ceiran Loney – 5 A night of nearly moments. Went one-on-one with Ashby-Hammond but lacked conviction, allowing the keeper to clear. Later, after neat work from Justin Clarke, he couldn’t adjust his feet to find the right angle. Effort was there; the cutting edge wasn’t.

Substitutes

• Jack Patterson (on 57 for Harry Brookes) – 6 Injected energy and a bit more bite into midfield. Helped Everton wrestle back some control during their comeback spell.
• Justin Clarke (on 70 for Joel Catesby) – 7 Lively and inventive. Created a very presentable chance for Loney and looked keen to make things happen.
• Aled Thomas (on 83 for Luis Gardner) Introduced just before Stockport’s fifth. Little time to influence events as the game ran away.
• Omari Benjamin (on 83 for Melvin Matos) Arrived with Everton chasing the game. Barely had a touch in any meaningful area.
• Jonathan Nsangou (on 83 for Ceiran Loney) Another late change as Hughes rolled the dice. The contest was effectively gone by then.

For David Hughes and his staff, this was a brutal lesson in game management and defensive resilience. For Braiden Graham, it was a coming-of-age performance wrapped inside a painful defeat.

If Everton’s U21s can match his courage and quality with a sturdier backbone, nights like this might yet become the making of them rather than the story of what slipped away.