DAVID MOYES might still be without several of his big names following this summer’s World Cup finals but Everton were always more likely to produce a more coherent performance than a club playing their first ever match.
It was no classic but this comfortable, if hardly dynamic performance from the visitors will be recorded for posterity as the newly-formed Heart's first official game before their inaugural A-league season.
For the Scot it will be a case of taking comfort from the vast potential of youth at his disposal, and from another opportunity to improve his squad’s overall match fitness.
Everton's manager won’t read much more into the game on a blustery and rain-soaked evening, because it had all the hall-marks of classic pre-season fare.
The tempo yo-yoed as fitness levels understandably dipped at various stages, partly due to the disruption which travelling has done to the Goodison outfit’s training schedule.
Moyes used the opportunity of this second warm-up to hand debuts to Portugese striker Joao Silva and ex-Leeds United forward Jermaine Beckford, while using all but one of his nine-strong substitute bench.
While the visitors laboured at times on a scrappy pitch, the growing strength in depth of this squad was enough to send the Australian Evertonians home happy.
Jack Rodwell again suggested this will be the season when he stamps his mark emphatically on the Premier League, with a composed and elegant first-half display.
Always assured and comfortable in possession, the 19-year-old sealed another strong performance with a close-range goal after fine work by fellow young prospect Seamus Coleman.
The score-line could have been different. Everton should really have scored three, after Louis Saha wasted a second minute penalty for a foul on Coleman.
But the classy Frenchman atoned for the spot-kick howler with a second-half strike from outside the box which nestled comfortably in the top left-hand corner of the net.
As at the weekend against A-League champions Sydney, newly-formed Heart showed plenty of spirit and tenacity, carving out various decent chances which were not converted thanks to poor finishing and solid goal keeping from Iain Turner.
At times the Everton manager and his coaching staff, seated alongside the pitch on white plastic chairs resembling garden furniture, could have been forgiven for nodding off.
But denied the cosy if twee blankets favoured by benches during the World Cup, there was never much chance of that happening on a decidedly brisk evening.
Once again the tour promoters and Everton officials lent a slice of Goodison Park to this new, roofed stadium near Melbourne’s docks.
Like in Sydney, the players ran out to ‘Z-Cars’ and ‘Grand Old Team’ signalled time for everyone to pack away their Everton mints and head for the exits.
After a strong all-Everton start, Heart began to assert themselves and signal their intent, revealed by Dutch manager John Van ‘t Schip, to play like Barcelona.
