Despite losing to Everton in the mini-derby yesterday, reserve coach John McMahon took time out to praise winger David Amoo after his performance against the Merseyside rivals:
“David is capable of playing like that. He is one of those lads who needs confidence and encouragement but on his day he can be a real threat. When he gets the ball he is really exciting.”
McMahon was speaking after the Liverpool reserves went down to their fourth straight defeat in the league against Everton last night which put to an end their ambitions of winning the reserve league title this season. McMahon included some promising youngsters in the side, including a 17 year old Czech Jakub Sokolik and the young side got off to a good start when Gerardo Bruna curled a shot wide after only 2 minutes. The game was a scrappy affair with few chances and winger Amoo only really got into the game in the second half. After he fired a shot in the side netting, on 68 minutes he went on a powerful run from the half way line which led to him fire narrowly over. The young winger kept making trouble for the Everton defence and with 8 minutes to go, he used his dribbling skills to good effect and put in a dangerous low ball which picked out Nikolaj Kohlert, but his effort was expertly saved by Everton keeper Ian Turner. The Reds would live to rue their missed chances as Jose Baxter scored an injury time volley to condemn Liverpool reserves to a derby day defeat, their fourth league defeat in a row. It means they now have no chance of winning of Premier Reserve League North. McMahon reflected on the season:
“It’s disappointing to be out of the title race but we have seen a lot of progression and development in these younger players. The team in recent weeks has been different to the one that started the season and we have had to give a lot of the young lads a chance but they have done well. We feel as though we are going in the right way and hopefully some of these lads will have given the boss something to think about.”
