Everton's first game of pre-season ends in a victory, with the Toffees able to capitalise on multiple defensive errors.
Everton secured a 4-0 victory over Dundee in their opening game of pre-season.
It was a comfortable afternoon for the Toffees, with plenty of youngsters given opportunities to impress as Everton wrapped up their training camp in Scotland.
David Moyes' side opened the scoring through Beto, as his deflected strike found its way into the back of the net. After the break, Thierno Barry made it two as his pressure on the Dundee goalkeeper forced a freak goal, blocking his clearance as it flew into the goal.
Everton made it three late on, as Harvey Foster pounced on a mistake at the back to produce a smart first-time finish from just outside the penalty area.
In the final seconds, Dwight McNeil made it 4-0 to the Toffees, as Everton capitalised on another mistake at the back.
Everton almost opened the scoring after just five minutes, as a back pass to Dundee goalkeeper Kieran O’Hara, under no pressure, slipped right under his feet, and he was forced to slide on his goal line to prevent a calamitous error.
Tyrique George, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, and Adam Aznou created some nice combinations on the left-hand side, causing Dundee plenty of trouble at times. A lovely one-two from George and Dewsbury-Hall led to a half-chance, with the former poking towards goal from the latter’s backheel, only for it to be blocked.
The first big chance fell to Everton and our number nine, Beto. Tyler Dibling picked out Harrison Armstrong, who turned and played a superb throughball in behind the defence. Beto latched onto it and only had the goalkeeper to beat, but he couldn’t quite get a clean shot off as it deflected behind.
Towards the end of the first half, Beto tested goalkeeper O’Hara from outside of the box. The Everton striker was found by Dibling, and he took on his man before unleashing a left-footed strike, which was saved comfortably.
Just moments later, Everton opened the scoring. Armstrong won the ball back in the middle before it was worked out wide to Dewsbury-Hall. Everton’s number 22 fired a pass into the feet of Beto, and he worked it onto his left foot before firing from outside the box, and it took a wicked deflection before finding its way into the back of the net.
There was little to write home about after Everton opened the scoring, with the Toffees going into half-time with a 1-0 lead.
Everton made four changes at the break, with Tom King, James Tarkowski, Charly Alcaraz, and Dwight McNeil all introduced. Mark Travers, Dewsbury-Hall, Beto, and Jake O’Brien were replaced. Interestingly, George was deployed as the centre-forward in the second half, with McNeil taking his place on the left-hand side.
Shortly after half-time, Everton had a chance to make it two. Dibling tried to find Alcaraz inside the Dundee penalty area, and after a defensive mistake, it fell to the young winger once again. Dibling attempted a thunderous first-time effort, but it flew over the bar and into the stands.
The Toffees dominated proceedings in the early stages of the second half, and they had a shout for a penalty as George went down in the box. The tricky winger danced past the challenges of two Dundee defenders before feeling that he was tripped, but the referee wasn’t having any of it.
After 60 minutes, further changes came for the Toffees, with a host of academy stars given opportunities to impress, alongside Thierno Barry. That led to no player who started the game remaining on the pitch beyond this point.
Plenty of youngsters were now on the pitch, looking to impress manager Moyes. Two of them came close to linking up for a goal as George Finney burst down the right-hand side before delivering a superb cross to the back post, but Braiden Graham couldn’t quite latch onto the end of it.
Moments later, Barry did well to control on the edge of the box as Dundee looked to clear, but he dragged his left-footed strike wide of the post.
Everton’s dominance continued, and it didn’t take long for Barry to be involved once again. Dundee’s substitute goalkeeper Harrison Sharp took his time to try and find a pass, but Barry pressed with real intensity and charged his clearance down, with the ball cannoning off the Everton striker and flying into the back of the net to make it 2-0.
The tempo of the game certainly slowed down as we edged closer to full-time, which is no surprise in Everton’s first pre-season friendly. There was plenty of effort and willingness to impress from the Everton academy stars who were given their opportunities, with Finney a standout at right-back going forward.
One youngster who certainly impressed with a fine finish was Harvey Foster, making it 3-0 to Everton with a first-time strike from outside the box. Dundee goalkeeper Sharp’s poor clearance fell straight to Foster, and he fired straight into the back of the net with real composure.
Everton then made it four late on as Alcaraz squared to McNeil to roll the ball into the back of the net, after yet another defensive error from the Scottish side. It was good work from Malik Olayiwola initially to find Alcaraz, and that sealed the victory for Everton.