Cambridge United 4, Everton 2

Jul 21 2008 by Nick Smith, Liverpool Daily Post

DAVID MOYES began the afternoon taunting opposite number and lifelong Evertonian Gary Brabin for sporting colours more associated with the other side of Stanley Park.

But it wasn’t the last time the Everton manager saw red on Saturday – and it was Brabin who certainly had the last laugh as he sent his team crashing to a second successive friendly defeat.

It has to be pointed out that in both those games – against Sion and Cambridge United – Moyes has been forced to name sides that aren’t even halfway towards what should be on his teamsheet when Blackburn Rovers descend on Goodison Park in four weeks’ time.

But that didn’t stop the Scot being mightily disappointed with the fact that those who did ‘grace’ his old Abbey Stadium stomping ground conceded four goals to a non-League team and were unable to cancel them out due to a succession of wasted opportunities.

Moyes admitted afterwards that he couldn’t take many positives from it all. But one would undoubtedly have been Lukas Jutkiewicz, the teenager helping his side recover from going behind after just 19 seconds with two well-taken first-half goals

But then Everton took a leaf out of Sandy Lyle’s book and gave up at the halfway point.

It was a calamitous second period in which the only high point for the visitors was the reappearance of Mikel Arteta.

Scampering across the turf, generating a buzz of anticipation as the blue hordes burst into that familiar song – and that was just his warm-up behind the goal.

His eventual 18-minute cameo produced brief flashes of the magic, with one particular pirouette proving that, for all last season’s inconsistencies, he can still elude defenders in a phone box.

What followed was more indicative of Everton’s overall afternoon, however.

Arteta’s pull-back teed up a clear shooting chance for Jack Rodwell, but he ballooned the ball into orbit – and with it went his team’s chances of recovering the result.

That moment summed up the error-strewn nature of the performance. And even though the rustiness can easily be smoothed out in the next month, it’s easy to see why Moyes wore a concerned look at the final whistle.

He knows that he still has 10 first-team regulars to add to the squad as well as the “five or six” he wants to bring in to give the numbers a badly-needed boost.

But certain facts from Saturday were inescapable. Like a back four, three-quarters of which were full internationals before Nuno Valente made way late on, allowing Cambridge to score four goals – although former Tranmere winger Andy Parkinson’s strikes were almost unstoppable.

And those who still have some convincing to do regarding their Everton careers hardly grasped the chance with both feet either.