Whatever the future holds for Andrew Johnson he sorely needs to sharpen up in front of goal – United certainly gave him plenty of opportunities to do so and he also created some for himself.

The endless energy and ability to panic defenders with his pace have not deserted him.

The same can’t be said of clinical finishing, however.

If goalkeeper Danny Potter couldn’t stop him, a recovering defender was usually on hand to block one of Johnson’s efforts.

Short of luck he may be, but failure to regain his touch against a Blue Square Premier side won’t have the likes of Steve Bruce and Roy Keane beating down the Goodison Park door with those £10million cheques just yet.

But while Moyes can accept Johnson staying, in the case of Andy van der Meyde he has no choice.

The Dutchman’s determination to do the last year of his contract the courtesy of putting some hard graft in and finally attempting to make an impact was reflected by Moyes giving him his second successive pre-season start.

Of course, he didn’t complete 90 minutes but that wasn’t the only aspect of his performance that won’t have told his manager anything he didn’t already know.

He can still effortlessly beat his man but a lack of end product and failure to stay constantly involved and vary his positional play will surely result in his first team involvement being swallowed up by the imminent wave of returning team-mates.

Moyes will have been infinitely more encouraged by the performances of the more youthful members of his contingent, however.

A year on from his move from Swindon, 19-year-old Jutkiewicz has yet to make a first-team appearance outside of Plymouth but showed a promising all-round game, not least in the way he slotted the ball past Potter for his first then, nine minutes later, cushioned a downward header past him to give his side a half-time lead.

At right-back, John Irving may look 12-years-old but he also looks accomplished on the ball and confident in the tackle.

He had the misfortune to be up against the best player on the field in Courtney Pitt, whose trickery led to the swerving effort that Parkinson delivered inside the first 20 seconds.

After that Everton, buoyed by the exuberance and eagerness to impress of Rodwell and O’Kane, stamped their authority but they relinquished it with alarming ease in the second half.

Parkinson’s excellent lob over John Ruddy from the right edge of the area was difficult to prevent but the same couldn’t be said of the way Cambridge, and sub Robbie Willmott in particular, got beyond the blue rearguard.

He delivered the ultimate punishment with 15 minutes left by putting his side back in front and six minutes later Mark Beesley sealed the victory with a fine half-volley on the turn following a corner.

All of which left Ruddy wishing that – delighted as he was to sign for Everton from Cambridge three years ago – that this friendly hadn’t been set up as part of the deal.

It was an unhappy return for him. But it will be many happy returns for his manager today when he welcomes bac k his African and American World Cup qualifying contingent following their extra time off at the end of an extended season. And the prospect of Moyes being able to name a more realistic side should help days like Saturday to be easily forgotten.