Neil Critchley admitted to mixed feelings as a coach after seeing his Liverpool U23s side get back to winning ways with a 3-1 victory over Everton in the mini-derby.

With just one game to go in Premier League 2, the Reds increased the pressure on leaders Arsenal, who play their final fixture on Friday night away at West Ham United.

Critchley’s charges are two points behind the Gunners and host Chelsea in their last match, on a date still to be finalised.

Going into Monday night’s mini-derby, the young Reds were boosted by the inclusion of Melwood-based players Danny Ward, Dominic Solanke and Ben Woodburn.

And it was Solanke who set them on their way when he bagged the opening goal from the penalty spot, before Lewis Gibson turned a Rafael Camacho cross into his own net.

Liverpool captain Nathaniel Phillips added a third for the visitors to render a late strike from David Unsworth’s Everton a mere consolation.

Read on for Critchley’s post-match thoughts on the game…

On the overall display from his team…

Honest appraisal, I was disappointed with our performance. I think we’ve played a lot better than that in recent games and got nothing for it. It’s nice for the boys to win a game and to have that feeling of winning a derby is nice. In the first half Everton started better than us and had more intensity. Overall, I’m pleased we got the points but disappointed with the performance.

On the influence of the likes of Solanke, Ward and Woodburn…

You hope that they bring some experience and some maturity. I have to say, Danny is a fantastic example in the way he leads the whole team and the line. You’ve got to remember that Ben and Dominic are still very young as well.

LFCTV GO: Watch the best of the mini-derby action

On what he felt his side could have done better on the night…

I think we were too passive all evening. We weren’t courageous enough to go and get the ball and play, we took too many touches. The pitch was there to move the ball fast and switch it quickly but we didn’t do that well all evening, to be honest. Maybe in the second half we started a little bit better and showed better spells but it wasn’t for long enough and we didn’t see the game out well enough.

On keeping up the pressure on Arsenal at the top of the Premier League 2 table…

That is nice and hopefully we can prepare for our last game now where we have got something on it. You want those games at this level where they mean something because you find out a little bit about the players when they are playing under pressure.