City’s Elite Development Squad continued their fine form with a 3-1 win at Everton.

Goals from Andrea Mancini, Donal McDermott and Omar Elabdellaoui sealed a satisfying victory for Andy Welsh’s side who had gone behind after just 50 seconds.

The Toffees flew out of the blocks and scored with their first attack when Conor McAleny nodded past Erik Johansen.

But the shell-shocked Blues responded quickly, almost levelling straight away from Abdul Razak’s fierce shot that was well saved by Connor Roberts.

However, it wasn’t long before City did find the equaliser when, after Chris Chantler’s blocked shot fell  kindly to Mancini, the young Italian curled a delightful shot past Roberts and into the net with just eight minutes on the clock.

The hosts had several chances to regain the lead but it was City who went ahead with Donal McDermott finishing smartly on 28 minutes. Everton again pressed hard to get back into the game, but despite a number of opportunities to restore parity, the score remained 2-1 to the Blues at the break.

After half-time, Everton again continued to dominate but a mixture of poor finishing, solid goalkeeping and resolute defending preserved City’s lead, and the icing on the cake came in injury time when substitute Elabdellaoiu added a third and sealed the points.