Pre-Season 2010: Melbourne Heart 0-2 Everton--goal.com
Everton continued their pre-season tour of Australia with a victory over Melbourne Heart.
Jack Rodwell ensured that the Toffees drew first blood after Louis Saha missed a penalty in the first minute, but the Frenchman redeemed himself in the second period by doubling the lead and handing his side a 2-0 triumph.
Youngsters Magaye Gueye and Seamus Coleman got a look in and started the game against John van 't Schip's charges, while striker Saha was given the nod ahead of James Vaughan.
Meanwhile, manager David Moyes deployed Tony Hibbert at left-back leaving Leighton Baines to warm the bench, but stuck to Sylvain Distin and Phil Jagielka in the heart of his defence.
Phil Neville and Jermaine Beckford were on the bench for this friendly encounter, and were expected to make an appearance at some point during the match.
The Toffees could have taken the lead in the first minute when the referee awarded them a penalty, but Saha was unable to make the most of the opportunity as he was unable to plant the ball in the back of the net.
But the travellers settled into the game after the early miss and began to play a fluid passing game, playing with the kind of confidence that was expected of them against a relatively weaker opposition.
After 34 minutes of the game had been played, the deadlock was broken when Gueye picked the ball up in midfield and sent it to Anichebe, who in turn passed it to young full-back Coleman, who went down the right assisted Rodwell in scoring the opener from five yards out.
In the meantime, the hosts pulled up their socks and began to push for an equaliser and had the upper hand in the proceedings for a very brief period of time. During the course of an attack, striker Gerald Sibon rounded the goalkeeper but somehow managed to miss the target.
The Scottish boss decided to bring on Neville and Tim Cahill in the second-half, as Gueye and Hibbert were taken off. The 30-year-old Australian was given a rapturous applause by the local crowd, as he made his way into the proceedings.
Not content with having the slender advantage of a lone goal lead, a good passing move a little past the hour mark eventually saw Saha redeem himself - for missing a penalty - by turning away from the defender at the edge of the box and firing the ball into the top left corner of the net.
As the man in charge brought the proceedings to a halt, Everton continued their positive pre-season with another positive result against an Australian side.
Everton: Turner; Coleman, Jagielka, Distin (Mustafi 84), Hibbert (Neville 46), Rodwell; Osman (Beckford 61), Gueye (Cahill 46), Anichebe (Jutkiewicz 73), Bilyaletdinov (Baxter 73); Saha (Silva 61)
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