THE last time Everton returned from a mammoth pre-season tour of Australia they went on to finish fourth in the league.

David Moyes would give anything for history to repeat itself, and his current side to repeat the form of Brian Labone, Alex Young and Colin Harvey back in 1964/65.

Of course the current day team face a tougher task to break into the promised land of Champions League qualification, with Manchester City continuing to spend beyond the means of any other club just to grace the same competition and Everton’s star players attracting interest from a host of richer clubs.

But while he may not have the limitless resources of Roberto Mancini or Carlo Ancelotti, Moyes has shown once again this summer that he has the pragmatism and single-mindedness to keep Everton striving for greatness.

His decision to come to Australia for a longer than usual tour was a bold one. Everton had settled into a comfortable pattern of taking pre-seasons in the USA, and Moyes was a firm advocate of doing his preparation in the land of the stars and stripes.

The USA was swapped for Australia, and a subtle change of thinking in the Everton camp followed.

To cure that habit of starting Premier League campaigns in such a costly and sluggish manner, David Moyes asked his team to shift the emphasis on winning before a ball has even been kicked in the domestic campaign.

For that reason, with three wins in Australia under their belt, the result was almost more important than the performance at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.

It is just as well.

Everton ended their successful tour down under with a tame performance which probably did little to convert watching Aussies to the beautiful game.