Everton 1 - 0 Manchester City

Half-time: 1 - 0

Everton staged a testimonial for the unfortunate midfielder who was forced to retire prematurely at Sheffield United earlier this year.  John Ebbrell was one of Everton's hottest young prospects in the early 1990's.  But that promise failed to fully materialize (how often have we heard that line?).  Ebbrell will be remembered as one of Joe Royle's infamous Dogs of War – the one who sat glumly in the kennel as the rest of the pack went on to hound Man Utd in the 1995 FA Cup Final.  Those were the days...

Walter Smith put out what may be close to his strongest starting eleven, with Campbell and Jeffers pairing well at the front to create and score what was the only goal of the game.  For the last 15 minutes, Dave Watson was replaced by journalist and author Ian Stafford, who is writing a book about the experiences of professional sports-people.

That he only touched the ball a couple of times won't matter in years to come. Journalistic licence will look after that and, in any case, it's the taking part that counts.

With a quarter of an hour remaining of Everton's 1-0 friendly win over Manchester City, assistant boss Archie Knox turned to one of Soccernet's contributors and told him he was about to replace Kevin Campbell, the £3M striker whom the club had spent most of the previous four months trying to buy.

Pressure? Well, it would have been worse had the 11,561 crowd not been told at half-time that one of the Everton substitutes is in fact a journalist working on a book rather than any notion of getting himself into the starting XI for the opening fixture against European champions Manchester United.

Campbell, you see, is something of a folk hero in those parts after single-handedly ensuring Everton's Premiership status during a loan spell last spring.

'I was a bit worried coming on for him after what he did last season,' an aching Stafford said this morning. 'But I wasn't nervous really. The adrenaline was pumping but I was okay.

'Kevin gave me the high fives as we changed places and as soon as I ran out on to the pitch I was a footballer, not a journalist.

'It was fantastic, absolutely fantastic. I woke up this morning and it was difficult to believe I'd actually done it. It was only when I saw the bandages on my feet that I knew it was for real.

'The pitch was like a bowling green and the 15 minutes flew by, I couldn't believe it when the referee blew his whistle. Unfortunately I hardly saw the ball and my first touch was a bad one.

'I was up front on the right and Danny Cadamarteri, who came on at the same time, passed to me. I had my back to goal on the edge of the box and figured he'd move down the right flank to receive it back.

'He didn't though... and the ball rolled rather feebly out to touch.'

Crowd reaction? 'There was an audible sigh and Danny just came up to me an said 'keep it simple'. I don't think it was entirely my fault but I can hardly say it was his either.'

Stafford was buzzing at the recollections now. 'I had a good old scrap with City's defender Andy Morrison, a great lump of a centre half. We had a couple of great tussles for the ball, really physical. He stood on my finger, which is bruised.

'It was amazing to hear City's defenders screaming at each other to have me marked. Ah, yes, there was one chance, too. Peter Degn had the ball on the right. I was level with the near post in completely open space. If he'd cut it back I would have been in with a great chance of scoring but he crossed it to far post and it was cleared.

'Who knows if he'd have passed it to me? Of course, I might have made a right mess of it.

'Before the game the players were asking me if I was feeling nervous, almost insisting that I must be. It was the same as the moment approached for me to go on.

'I was sitting next to Alex Cleland on the bench and he kept looking at me. The players had said that if they were the ones who were substituted for me they'd hand in a transfer request.

'I don't think there was much danger of that.'

Stafford, who said he couldn't believe how enthusiastically he was received back in the dressing room after seeing so little of the ball, awaits manager Walter Smith's comments on his performance later today.

'I don't think they'll be too encouraging but I'd say he was quite relieved it wasn't an unmitigated disaster!'

The occasion really belonged to John Ebbrell, whose testimonial it was last night. The former Everton midfielder, an FA Cup winner four years ago, has been forced to retire early because of injury.

But Stafford will never forget it either. As for the fame... if only Degn had found him inside the box.