Everton continue their pre-season Scottish tour with a trip to Motherwell, where James McFadden was on the bench as a guest of the home side. Everton have promised better service for the live coverage on evertontv, which started before the kick-off and was far better than for the Dundee game.
The game was a testimonial for Stevie Hammell of Motherwell who are manged by Stuart McCall and fielded one-time Everton trainee Adam Cummins. David Moyes named a farily strong squad, with most of his attacking strength starting on the bench, Tim Cahill returning to the side in his all too familiar role behind Vellios. Ross Barkley was relegated to the Reserves who are set to play Airdrie a little later.
Everton looked up for it from the off, pass and move being the order of the day as they put early pressure on the Motherwell goal. But the home side were also keen to get involved, with an early shot from distance on Howard's goal. A mistake by Neville allowed the to attack again.
Cahill got a good cross in from wide left and Osman did well to reach it but could only head over. In another attack, Vellios did well to turn his man but Fellaini didn't control it and Anichebe curled his shot just wide. That livened things up at the other end when Higdon should really have opened the scoring. Law also had a good chance and forced a save from Tim Howard.
Fellaini seemed off the pace and was called for clipping a player's heels and giving up a dangerous free-kick that Fellaini then deflected over the bar, and it was Fellaini who headed away the resulting corner.
The game settled a bit but Tim Cahill was looking to get back into form, and tried a good shot along the ground that forced a stretched save from Randolph.
At the other end, Anichebe swung in a good cross and it was the very tall Shane Duffy at the far post who headed it down past Randoplh to open the scoring.
Coleman then had a couple of good shots on goal, and Anichebe on the other wing was lively and keen to impress.
At half-time, David Moyes rang the changes, bringing on Gibson, Junior, Rodwell and Jelavic, for Osman, Anichebe, Cahill and Vellios.
It took a while for the Everton changes to really settle and it was Motherwell who eventually took advantage, when Nicky Law smacked a sweet left-footed shot that beat Tim Howard all hands down. Higdon then hit the post with Howard beaten again.
Jelavic got a chance to run on and shoot but is effort was very weak. Then a nicely worked move saw Fellaini feed Junior who cut the ball back across goal perfectly fro Rodwell to score... only he hit it straight at Adam Cummins standing on the Motherwell goalline!
On the hour mark, James McFadden was one of three changes by Motherwell. And after that, it was time for Steven Naismith to make his first appearance in an Everton shirt, along with Johnny Heitinga. They replaced Fellaini and Distin, respectively.
Motherwell continued to have the better of the play, as Law drove one just wide of Howard's goal after good build-up play by McFadden. At the other end, Coleman set up Naismith to score but Hollis saved his shot, with game now continually broken up by subs from the home side.
Motherwell continued to press, winning a couple of free-kicks, one of which required a good save by Howard from Hateley. Rodwell had a poke fro the Blues but it was always going wide, and a good game all round ended up tied at 1-1.
Michael Kenrick
David Moyes fielded a strong line-up for the fixture, starting with first-team players Tim Howard, Sylvain Distin, Leon Osman, Marouane Fellaini and Tim Cahill.
Phil Jagielka and Leighton Baines both missed the game, as they do not return to training until Monday, with starlet Ross Barkley picked instead for the reserves' evening game against Airdrie United.
The Premier League side made a bright start by passing the ball about neatly, however it was their Scottish opponents who worked a couple of openings, Chris Humphrey forcing Howard into a save and Hammell seeing his free-kick deflected over.
The Merseyside team continued to play some good football and as the half-hour mark approached Moyes's men managed to assert themselves in the game. Cahill firstly tested Darren Randolph, before heading over from the resulting corner.
As the away side began to grow into the game, Fellaini tried his luck from distance but saw his effort go wide. Minutes later, though, Anichebe's cross was met by Shane Duffy, who headed home for the opener.
The defender's goal was all that separated the two teams at the interval, with Jamie Murphy failing to level the scores just before the whistle as his long-range shot narrowly missed the target.
As usual for a pre-season run-out, a number of substitutes were made at the break. Nikica Jelavic, Jack Rodwell, Francisco Junior and Darron Gibson all entered the fray for the second period, with Motherwell making just a single change.
Everton almost doubled their lead within two minutes when Seamus Coleman connected with Rodwell's cross – a miss that the Toffees would rue as Law's peach of a volley flew past Howard after 54 minutes.
As the hour mark passed Rodwell was denied a goal thanks to a superb goal-line clearance, after good build-up from Fellaini and Junior, before former Toffee James McFadden came off the Motherwell bench to receive a standing ovation from the travelling 1,049 supporters.
Another significant substitution was made with 20 minutes left as Steven Naismith came on to make his Everton debut, to jeers from the home support, after receiving international clearance in time following his move from Rangers.
Naismith nearly bagged a goal on his first outing too, but was denied by Randolph before, with five minutes remaining, Motherwell had the last chance of the game as Howard saved from a dangerous free-kick.
Goal.com
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Barkley (Reserves)
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