Ricardo Santos, Kyle Dempsey and Kion Etete made their injury comebacks as Wanderers’ B Team faced Everton Under-21s in the second test event at Bramley-Moore Dock.
The game came to an end shortly after the hour mark due to a planned evacuation to meet safety licence requirements, with the hosts leading 1-0.
Kingsford Boakye got the breakthrough with a clinical header past Luke Hutchinson, who had made a series of impressive saves.
It was Dempsey’s first appearance since October following a spell out of action with a knee injury.
Santos hadn’t featured since January 18 due to a pelvic issue and Etete had been sidelined since injuring his thigh during the warm-up against Crawley last month.
Gethin Jones, Jay Matete, Carlos Mendes Gomes and Klaidi Lolos also got some valuable minutes under their belts against the young Toffees.
Hutchinson made a superb double save in the early stages to keep out Martin Sherif’s initial header and then deny the forward from the rebound.
Dempsey sent an effort wide from outside the area and Etete’s strike was held by Abdulla Alhammadi after Lolos’ cut-back.
Braiden Graham couldn’t keep his volley down and Luke Butterfield saw an effort held by Hutchinson as the hosts searched for the opener.
Sherif curled a strike just over before Mendes Gomes’ drive was held by Alhammadi at the other end.
Sherif thought he had opened the scoring after he was slipped in by Jack Patterson but Hutchinson made another fine save at full stretch.
Dempsey nearly had a chance to break the deadlock just before the break but Reece Welsh made an important block.
Substitute Andrew Tutte saw a shot from distance pushed away by Alhammadi early in the second half.
The decisive moment came minutes before the contest was brought to an end, with a dangerous move down the right resulting in Roman Dixon picking out Boakye at the far post and he made no mistake from close range.
Wanderers B: Hutchinson; Jones, Hogan, Santos, O’Toole, Weston; Matete, Dempsey, Carlos Mendes Gomes; Lolos, Etete. Subs: Litherland, Westwood, Tutte, Rice, Isong, Abimbola, Oliver.
