Brentford U21 0 Everton U21 2: Milambo features as Bees suffer first defeat of the season | OneFootball

Antoni Milambo played 45 minutes as Brentford Under-21s fell to a 2-0 defeat to Everton Under-21s in Premier League 2 this afternoon.

Goals from Melvin Matos and Malik Olayiwola handed Brentford their first defeat of the season at Wheatsheaf Park.

Both sides had to work each other out in what was a tight opening to the game with Luca Picotto and Joseph Wheeler-Henry both given tough tasks in marking Everton wingers Matos and Justin Clarke.

On 15 minutes, the Bees fashioned their first chance when Wheeler-Henry flicked the ball inside to Riley Owen. The midfielder cut the ball back which deflected into the path of Milambo whose strike was closed down at the vital moment by Luca Davis.

Clarke went close for the Toffees on 21 minutes, rattling the post with a driven effort from the left-hand side of the box, before the opposite wide man Matos fired inches wide from the edge of the box minutes later.

Both sides were playing good football, making it an entertaining game. Sam Saunders' side forged a good chance after a fluid move down the left allowed Kiefer Gorman to put a deep cross in. Ollie Shield met it with his head and his effort was cleared off the line, with Jai Nwosu heading the rebound on to the roof of the net under pressure.

On the half hour mark, Milambo picked up the ball and did well to slide in Owen on the right of the box, but his deflected strike whistled just over the crossbar.

Shield did superbly to beat his man and clip a cross in to the centre as the game approached the break. Isaac Holland got across his man to nod an effort toward goal but the strike was again blocked well by the blue defence.

Everton went down the other end and Aidan Stokes made a brilliant save as Ceiran Loney had too much space in the box to head goalbound, the Brentford keeper springing to his left to get a strong hand on the effort and parry it away.

The first half ended goalless and level, but there was plenty to get a packed Wheatsheaf Park off their seats.

Milambo was replaced by Ben Wilson at the break and the second half started at pace. Stokes made a fingertip save a minute in, getting just enough on the ball to tip Harvey Foster's looping header over the bar.

The Bees went down the other end with Wilson getting out of a tight area and finding Owen, who slipped in Nwosu as he drove at goal. The striker, making his first start for the Under-21s as a first year scholar, smashed his effort on to the bar as George Pickford rushed out to put him off.

On 53 minutes the west Londoners had the ball in the back of the net after a slick pass from Gorman allowed Nwosu to cross and Shield to tap home, but the flag went up on the far side and Saunders' side were denied.

It was Everton who took the lead on 57 minutes. The young Toffees broke the midfield line and Freddie Murdock found Matos on the edge, whose strike deflected nastily of Andre Grey and looped over the stretching Stokes into the bottom corner.

Brentford had to look for a way back in to the game and Holland almost found it three minutes later, breaking down the left and squeezing an effort with the outside of his boot towards the near post but Pickford saved. Shield had a half-chance from the following corner which the Everton goalkeeper blocked well with his feet.

Caelan Avenell made a huge intervention to keep Brentford in the game; after blocking an initial cross the ball fell to Foster just inside the box and the Brentford skipper readjusted his body to clear off the line as the ball looked certain to nestle into the corner of the net.

With 15 minutes to play, Brentford had another big chance as Grey's in-swinging cross was collected by Holland who smashed the ball across the six-yard box. The ball ricocheted off an unaware Everton defender but floated just wide of the post.

Owen bent an effort toward the bottom corner which Pickford saved well before Holland put too much power on his angled half-volley on the rebound.

Josh Oladapo-Gamu came off the bench to drop into centre-back, making his debut for the Under-21s.

Substitute Jacob Hanson dragged an effort wide from the edge of the box and Wilson flicked a header the wrong side of the post as the Bees applied the pressure in search of an equaliser.

Everton put the game to bed though with three minutes to play as Brentford failed to clear from a corner and Malik Olayiwola drove a perfectly placed strike home to make it 2-0.

The Toffees therefore inflicted a first loss of the season upon the west Londoners, who will look to put it right against Manchester United Under-21s at Pogress with Unity Stadium on Friday 18 September (7pm kick-off BST).

Brentford: Stokes, Wheeler-Henry, Picotto (Oladapo-Gamu 71), Avenell (Trimboli 87), Grey, Gorman (Hanson 71), Shield, Owen, Nwosu (Giscombe 71), Milambo (Wilson HT), Holland

Subs: Lyon

Booked: Gorman 13

Everton: Pickford, Davis (Finney 65), Carrington, Gardner, Dodds, Foster, Matos (Benjamin 80), Patterson, Loney, Murdock (Olayiwola 65), Clarke (Lambert 42)

Subs: Barnsley

Saunders: Frustrating day

Sam Saunders reacts to his side's first loss of the season against Everton Under-21s.

"It was very frustrating, I have to watch it back but emotionally I feel like we didn't deserve to lose the game," he said.

"For the first half it was a really good competitive game and I feel we were the side that was dominating more of the possesion and creating good opportunities." "Second half we came out sharp but it wasn't meant to be. They played through us too easily and got a deflected shot that went in."