Everton Reserves 3 Leeds Reserves 3

GOALS, goals and more goals seemed to accompany Everton and Leeds last week as Sunday's 4-4 Premiership draw between the two was preceded by an entertaining 3-3 draw in the Reserve League.

On a bitterly cold Tuesday night at the Auto Quest, two goals in the first six minutes set the pattern for game littered with mistakes, but both teams played to win and in the end it could have gone either way.

The home side took the lead in the third minute after a long punt forward by Alex Cleland reached Danny Cadamarteri who shook off the entire Leeds back four and slotted it past the keeper.

In the sixth minute a bizarre incident resulted in the Leeds equaliser. Cleland played a back pass to Everton keeper Steve Simonsen but it was caught in the wind and he had to scramble across to push the ball round the post. The referee gave an indirect free kick on the six-yard line and Leeds captain Mark Jackson scored with a low drive.

Everton took the lead again on 23 minutes. Good work by Phil Jevons as he passed the ball through to Johnson whose first time shot was saved by the keeper, but he was first to the rebound and fired home from ten yards.

Three minutes later Everton fans thought they had increased their lead as Johnson appeared to beat the offside trap and cross to Cadamarteri whose shot went into the net but was disallowed by the linesman's flag.

Just before half-time Leeds midfielder Cawley sprung the Everton offside trap and took the ball into the box and squared it to Craig Farrell who scored past the advancing Simonsen.

In the second-half both teams took time to get back into their stride with possession frequently conceded through some sloppy passing.

Leeds then had a spell of concerted pressure and took the lead on 67 minutes when Hay put Cawley through. Simonsen managed to get a hand to his fierce shot but the ball looped over his head and into the net.

Everton struck back immediately. A great cross from the left by McLeod was met near the far post by Jevons whose header beat the stranded Leeds keeper for Everton's third goal. It was now Everton's turn to up the tempo and O'Kane and Cadamarteri both went close.

But Leeds almost snatched the three points with a minute remaining when Farrell found himself clear in the box. He had four Leeds players to aim for but his poor cross managed to elude them all. Everton mom Gareth Farrelly.

Next game: Everton v Middlesbrough, Tuesday, November 23.

Attendance: 909

Everton:Simonsen, O'Kane, Phelan, Clarke, Cleland, Degn, Jevons, Farrelly, Johnson, Cadamarteri, Milligan

Leeds: Harpur, Maybury, Evans, Jackson, Duberry, Hay, Dixon, Cawley, Farrell, Johnson, Ribeiro

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.