2. Tony Hibbert 3. Leighton Baines 4. Joseph Yobo 5. Joleon Lescott 6. Phil Jagielka 7. Andy van der Meyde 8. Andrew Johnson 10. Mikel Arteta 12. Iain Turner 14. James Vaughan 17. Tim Cahill 18. Phil Neville 19. Nuno Valente 20. Steven Pienaar 21. Leon Osman 22. Yakubu 24. Tim Howard 26. Jack Rodwell 28. Victor Anichebe 30. John Ruddy 32. Dan Gosling
Everton boss David Moyes has confirmed his squad numbers for the new season. There are three changes to last season's squad numbers .... and hopefully there will be some additional numbers filled before the start of the season.
Phil Jagielka takes over from Mikel Arteta at number 6, as the little Spanish fella moves to number 10, while Jack Rodwell takes over from Lee Carsley at number 26.
The famous Everton number 9, worn with pride by Dixie Dean, Tommy Lawton, Alex Young, Joe Royle, Bob Latchford, Graeme Sharp and Duncan Ferguson is still available, as are numbers 1 and 11.
Andy Johnson started the friendly at Cambridge United today, with John Ruddy in goal for a game that was agreed as part of his transfer into the big time two years ago. Mikel Arteta is on the bench, with the same long list of senior squad absentees meaning that the youngsters should get another chance to impress manager and onlookers alike...
Eunan O'Kane, who made a great impression against Sion, starts in midfield, and John Irving is clinging on to the right-back slot while Hibbert recovers, and it is yet another chance for Andy van der Meyde to build much-needed match fitness.
Cambridge went straight up to the Everton end from the kick-off and Andy Parkinson wellied it over John Ruddy into the net before anyone was awake! A very lively start to the game ensued. Great work down the left by O'Kane put in Neville whose good ball to Johnson should have produced a better result.
McEvilly had to leave the field for the home side with a hamstring problem after 10 mins. Van der Meyde made a poor tackle, looking for another yellow card! Johnson got in a shot but it was not strong enough, while at the other end Ruddy did better with another deflected shot.
But a nice ball forward to Lukas Jutkiewicz, he did very well to control the ball and take it forward superbly to force the ball past Potter and just inside the post. An excellent finish!
Two great opportunities for Johnson came on the end of a sweeping move in which Van der Meyde went down but the ref played advantage and AJ really should've scored.
From a floating Van der Meyde corner, Lescott drove a header toward the post and AJ got his head on it but Potter was alive to the defection and palmed it away. On the next attack, Van der Meyde crossed in nicely for Jutkiewicz, who jumped a little early to head the ball just over the bar. Minutes later, the same combo paid off and Jutkiewicz nodded the ball nicely just inside the far post, to put the Blues ahead.
Everton almost scored from the restart, a great cross on from Irving. The game then went a bit flat and Jose Baxter replaced Lukas Jutkiewicz. Some time later it looked like Wilmott might score for Cambridge after getting behind the Everton defence but Ruddy stuck out a leg to make the save.
But he could do nothing about a strike form Andy Parkinson after he pulled down a long ball from the back and floated a superb shot over Ruddy and into the Everton net.
Baxter was a lively inclusion and he put a beautiful ball in for AJ who tried to lift the ball over Potter but failed. Mikel Arteta, Kieran Agard and Lee Molyneux than came on for the last 20 mins or so. But the game then swung in the home side's favour, with another good defense, splitting ball that Wilmott powered home, perhaps with the benefit of a deflection off Jagielka.
Agard tried to score off a ball form Arteta but it was straight at the keeper. Everton then turned it on, with lots of pressure on the Cambridge goal but no clear strikes resulting. Then at the other end, a fantastically worked goal, a superb swivel and turn by Beesley off a header from a corner that showed up Rowell and Jagielka going for the same ball. It allowed Beesley to fire the ball hard into the Everton net past an increasingly embarrassed John Ruddy.
Agard nearly scored at the end, taking it around the keeper but the defender was there. He got another chance before the final whistle.
Not the scoreline many fans will relish, but it looked to have been a great workout for what was essentially a reserve Everton team, with at least 10 of the first-team squad missing.
By one account, Johnson looked like a man playing his last game in Everton Blue, staying to the very end to applaud the fans as if he were saying goodbye ahead of an imminent transfer away from Goodison. Meanwhile, he told another fan that he was not going anywhere at the moment. We shall see...
EFCNYC.com is the website for Everton FC supporters in the New York City area. We get together at Mr. Dennehy's bar in the West Village for matches. We welcome all Evertonians visiting the Big Apple to stop by and watch the match and have a few beers with us. Through this website we'll keep you posted regarding the match viewing schedule and other extra-curricular events we organize.
Located in the West Village in Manhattan, Mr. Dennehy's is where EFC-NYC gets together to watch Everton. For detailed instructions on getting to Mr. Dennehy's, click here.
Located in the West Village in Manhattan, Mr. Dennehy's is where EFC-NYC gets together to watch Everton. For detailed instructions on getting to Mr. Dennehy's, click here.
