A year to the day earlier, Everton’s first team had kept going right until the end against a team in all red and, just as a spectacular strike from James Tarkowski had earned David Moyes’ men a deserved equaliser to make the score 2-2, Braiden Graham repeated the trick against Ipswich Town in the FA Youth Cup fifth round last night.

That occasion, some 12 months before, was of course the last-ever Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park.

With the clock ticking down, a spectacular volley from the home captain, with what proved to be the final kick of the game from a Blues player ensured that after 120 matches in over 130 years of combat across Stanley Park, Liverpool did not finish with a winning record at ‘The Grand Old Lady.’

OPINION

Of course, the stakes were nowhere near as high on this occasion, but Graham’s strike was one of quality that would have graced any stage and, with a winner required on the night, it provided the...