EVERTON were comfortably beaten 2-0 by Southport in the Liverpool Senior Cup final at Haig Avenue.
Losing skipper Jose Baxter summed up the Toffees’ turgid performance after the match, by tweeting simply: “For anyone who came to watch us today I can only apologise because we were awful.”
Nobody who witnessed the Blues second-string’s limp display would argue with the 19-year-old’s admirably honest assessment.
Alan Stubbs’ side were undone by two early set piece goals from Karl Ledsham and impressive former Everton player John Paul Kissock in the opening 10 minutes, and failed dismally to find a way back into the game afterwards.
Stubbs took charge of a side that was largely similar to the one that contested the Lev Yashin cup in Mosocw last weekend, but were without attacking duo Conor McAleny and Apostolos Vellios, the later on first team duty in Washington.
Liam Watson’s Sandgrounders raced into the lead inside 90 seconds, as the snoozing Blues failed to deal with a long throw-in allowing Ledsham to give the hosts the perfect start.
On eight minutes Everton’s plight worsened as Kissock, the outstanding player in the first half, curled an excellent free kick past Polish new-boy Mateus Taudal in goal from 30 yards.
Adam Thomas produced a brief but lively 20-minute cameo after replacing the disappointing Joao Silva but the Blues were well beaten, and were left to watch from the sidelines as Southport skipper Alan Moogan celebrated winning one of the country’s oldest cup competitions.
SOUTHPORT: McMillan, Smith, Owens (Lever, 65), Akrigg, Grand, Moogan (Capt) (McGinn, 50), Whalley, Ledsham, Gray, Kissock (Spencer, 45), Brown.
EVERTON: Taudul, Browning, Duffy, Mustafi, Bidwell, Forshaw, Barrow (Hope, 50), Garbutt (Forrester, 56), Lundstram, Baxter (Capt), Silva (Thomas, 70).
