Everton Under-21 player ratings from the 5-1 defeat to Bradford City in the Vertu Trophy at Valley Parade
21:50, 14 Oct 2025Updated 23:45, 14 Oct 2025
ECHO Everton reporter Chris Beesley has covered Everton and Liverpool both in the Premier League and abroad since 2005. He cut his teeth in professional sports journalism at the Ellesmere Port Pioneer and then the Welsh edition of the Daily Post, where he also covered Manchester United.
Prior to that he worked on the student newspaper Pluto at the University of Central Lancashire, a role in which he first encountered David Moyes. Chris is well-known for his sartorial elegance and the aforementioned Scottish manager once enquired of him at a press conference: “Is that your dad’s suit you’ve got on?” while the tradition continued in 2023 with new Blues boss Sean Dyche complimenting him on his smart appearance.
Nathan Patterson in action during the Vertu Trophy match between Bradford City and Everton Under-21s, which took place at the University of Bradford Stadium.(Image: Emma Simpson/Everton FC Official Photography Library/SmartFrame)
Everton U21s were thrashed 5-1 by EFL League One high-flyers Bradford City in their Vertu Trophy group match at Valley Parade. The Blues were already 4-0 down by the interval with Nathan Patterson putting a goalbound effort from Stephen Humphrys into his own net.
Despite them pulling one back in the second half – through an own goal – the Bantams restored their four-goal cushion in a contest that produced 13 minutes of injury time due to what looked like a nasty injury for Everton’s Joel Catesby who was stretchered off following some lengthy treatment.
Here’s our player ratings from the clash written by Chris Beesley;
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George Pickford 7On the same night that his senior namesake Jordan was on his way to the World Cup finals while winning his 80th England cap, he had the thankless task of being behind this leaky defence and while he was picking the ball out of his net on regular occasions in the first half, you really couldn’t point the finger of blame at him as he kept the score down at times.Nathan Patterson 3A tough night at the office for the Scotland international as he diverted Humphrys’ effort into his own net, almost put another one in, handled the ball on a rare foray forward and was shown a yellow card for good measure.Adam Aznou 4David Moyes warned that the Morocco international wasn’t quite ready for first-team football, but after a testing time when thrown in early against Roma in Everton’s final pre-season friendly, he wasn’t pulling up any trees here as part of a back four that was pulled to pieces in the first half. William Tamen 5The Everton captain at least led by example with some acts of bravery, putting in strong challenges and getting clattered by Bradford ‘keeper Joe Hilton when going up for a header, but was part of that leaky backline.Aled Thomas 5Tried desperately to get to Calum Kavanagh’s shot for the opener, but couldn’t make it and that set the tone for the night as he and his fellow defenders were left chasing shadows.Jacob Beaumont-Clark 5On a night when Everton were crying out for some creativity, he largely cut a frustrated figure.Francis Gomez 5Battled hard and put himself about but, like so many others, it wasn’t good enough on this occasion.Callum Bates 5Found himself overran in the engine room as Bradford surged through Everton like a knife through butter. Joel Catesby 5The Birkenhead-born prospect has been with Everton since the age of four and, like all of his team-mates, he was labouring here – but we just wish him well after he left the field on a stretcher after what looked like a horrible fall when challenged.Dwight McNeil 4Playing in the number 10 role, a talent of his magnitude should have been running the show here, but he was instead largely anonymous. Omari Benjamin 5Curled an inviting chance wide late in the first half, but had the thankless task of leading the line on his own and feeding off scraps.SubstitutesJustin Clarke (on 69 for Catesby) 7It was his cross that created Everton’s consolation goal.George Finney (on 80 for Beaumont-Clark)Late outing but even Tom Finney couldn’t have saved Everton by this stage.George Morgan (on 90 for Patterson)Stoppage time cameo.Coby Ebere (on 90 for Benjamin)Ditto.