Under-21s manager Paul Tait believes Evertonians starved of live football can help roar his side to victory over Mansfield Town at Goodison Park in the Papa John’s Trophy on Wednesday. Having made it to the knockout stage of the competition, the young Blues host Nigel Clough’s men as they attempt to reach the last 16 and with no first team home matches since the 2-0 defeat to Leicester City on Bonfire Night, Tait is hoping that a few more supporters than usual might be in attendance for the fixture.
He told evertonfc.com : “We’re made up because we haven’t been to Goodison this season. We loved the experience of playing at Walton Hall Park, and we’re expecting to get more opportunities there, but we don’t get many chances to play at Goodison due to the first-team fixture load, but this break has allowed us the opportunity to play there and we love it.
“The players absolutely love to go and play on Goodison’s pitch and everything that it brings. I am hoping a few Evertonians who need that live football fix can come down and watch Everton again. It would be brilliant to get a few through the gate to cheer the lads on.”
READ MORE: Everton nearly signed World Cup goalkeeper after 'unbuyable' star slapped in three transfer requests
The visitors from Nottinghamshire are eighth in the League Two table and just a couple of points shy of the play-off places so Tait believes they will provide his youthful charges with a stern test. He said: “The competition has been a chance for the lads to go and play against seasoned professionals. That’s what they really look forward to – testing themselves, seeing how they handle it.
“In particular, the ones who are a little bit older, the lads whose next step is to go out on loan and play some first-team football. They want to get a taste for that and see what it is like.”
Tait added: “We’ve had three really good games in the competition so far which has given us different tests and challenges. The first game, against League One Morecambe, we played some really good football, we dominated the ball more than you would expect against a League One team.
“But then we got bullied a bit physically on set plays. We lost our way a little bit in that game and ended up drawing before losing on penalties.
“So we come away from that game thinking, ‘Okay, the footballing side of it we did really well and we played really well, but the physical side of it and psychological side of it we could have done a bit better’.
“That’s what we took away from that, and then the next game, that was a real physical test against Harrogate. We did a lot of work on defending direct plays, defending set plays and we actually defended really well.
“But then we didn’t play enough football, so we didn’t get the balance right and we came away unhappy, even though we won that game on penalties.
“Then against Hartlepool (a 6-0 win), I feel like we got the balance right. We weathered the storm early on, we had to earn the right to play and then the free-flowing football came at it was a really good evening.
“So the three games have given us different challenges, we’ve met them, and we’ve coped with them well.”
- The Upper Bullens Road stand will be open for Wednesday's fixture, and it will be cash on the turnstiles to gain entry. The game is priced at £5 for Adults, and £3 for Concessions. Due to competition rules, Season Ticket Holders and Official Members will also have to pay to attend.
READ NEXT
- Mohammed Kudus and four other forwards Everton could target in January transfer window
-
Everton joined by Liverpool in race to sign Mohammed Kudus after World Cup spying mission
-
'Everyone was looking' - What Richarlison did in training to leave ex-Everton player stunned
-
Everton to launch away ticket trial before the end of this year
