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Liverpool won the battle of the U23s as Everton collected the spoils of the war at Goodison.

Goals in either half from Sheyi Ojo and Trent Alexander-Arnold put the Reds ahead before they held out after Calum Dyson's deflected shot reduced the deficit with seven minutes left.

It completed a league double for Liverpool over their city rivals as they finished their Premier League 2 season in third place.

It was Everton who took the title though and there were 16,935 through the turnstiles to see them lift the trophy, with another 1,000 or so populating the lounges.

We even had a mini-pitch invasion at one point, not to mention the traditional derby melee.

It was the champions who started the better with Harry Charsley heading just over from Jonjoe Kenny's cross within the first two minutes.

But a mistake in the Blues defence allowed Liverpool the lead.

Matthew Pennington delayed on the ball and Harry Wilson stole it, before placing a simple pass into the path of Ojo who beat Mateusz Hewelt with the minimum of fuss at the near post.

That settled Liverpool and they started to put their passing together.

Good feet from Ejaria saw him shoot wide from a good position inside the box while Wilson warmed Hewelt's palms after an excellent turn from Grujic.

A thunderous challenge between Mo Besic and Matty Virtue could have been filed under "derby" in the dictionary and echoed around the stadium. Just what we wanted.

Kieran Dowell's curling free-kick almost embarrassed Reds keeper Kamil Grabara at his near post but he managed to paw it away with still less than 20 minutes on the clock.

Joe Williams forced Grabara to tip over before another Dowell free-kick had him sprawling across goal but it was narrowly wide.

Everton started the second period well with Bassala Sambou's powerful shot forcing Grabara to concede a corner while Morgan Feeney's header was too central to overly worry the keeper.

But it was Liverpool who stretched their lead.

A lovely flick and shot from Wilson had gone narrowly wide of the post just a minute earlier when two members of the first-team bench on Sunday combined to superb effect.

The impressive Grujic strode forward and released an overlapping Alexander-Arnold, whose brilliant cross-shot flew past Hewelt after 58 minutes.

A fine run by Wilson almost extended the lead further but his poked shot lacked power while Grabara needed to be alert to force Sambou wide from a good position at the other end.

Liverpool's Polish keeper was needed again to push away Henin's strong effort with Everton supporters disappointed a blue shirt didn't pick up the rebound.

A mini pitch invasion of kids - some filming on their mobile phones - was eventually cleared by stewards before a foul by Reds substitute Jordan Williams on namesake Joe prompted a fracas.

Sambou missed a great chance to pull one back for Everton, firing Kenny's intelligent pull-back wide but Liverpool's respite was brief.

The Reds failed to clear a ball in their area and it fell to substitute Dyson whose deflected effort gave Grabara no chance.

Seven minutes remained and they were nervy ones as Everton pressed but Dyson's header dropped over and Grabara tipped Dowell's fine drive round the post.

EVERTON: Hewelt, Kenny, Jones, Baningime, Feeney, Pennington, Dowell, Besic (Henen 56), Sambou, Williams (Evans 85), Charsley (Dyson 64).

LIVERPOOL: Grabara, Alexander-Arnold, Randall, Phillips, Gomez, Virtue (Williams 72), Grujic, Ejaria, Wilson, Ojo, Woodburn (Hart 90).