Everton and Bury draw 1-1 in preseason friendly

Full Time: 1-1 the final score

Blues had their chances to win it all but the woodwork stood firm for the home side. The second half side once again outworked and outperformed the first half side.

75’: Bury 1, Everton 1

Cuco Martina is on now for a lacklustre Sandro Ramirez. The Spaniard got plenty of time and saw a lot of the ball, but wasted the one golden chance he got. One assumes Silva is on the phone right now to Marcel Brands about pulling the trigger on Malcom.

63’: Bury 1, Everton 1

Oumar Niasse has been a livewire since he came on at the break, and managed to hit the right post three separate times in thirteen minutes!

The Sengalese striker finally gets his just rewards, bulldozing over the Bury centerhalves and slamming the rebound home.

Half Time: Nine changes at the break

Niasse, Vlasic, Klaassen, Connolly, Besic, Kenny, Pennington, Williams, Robinson all come on. Only Sandro and Stekelenburg remain from the first half.

First Half Summary: Bury 1, Everton 0

Everton go into the break down a well-taken goal by Neil Danns following a couple of botched clearances from a dangerous freekick right before the half. In other words, same old same old.

The Blues certainly had their chances to score, with Leighton Baines, Kieran Dowell, Cenk Tosun and Kevin Mirallas all coming close.

Everton were confident when it came to holding the ball, but sloppy when it was time to make it count. Dowell and Tom Davies struggled to be incisive, and it cut service off from the three forwards. Michael Keane and Phil Jagielka look like they just met, which is weird, since they’ve played a fair bit together.

Pre-Game: Two changes from Saturday

So Phil Jagielka steps in for Mason Holgate and Kevin Mirallas for Ademola Lookman as Marco Silva will attempt to have more balance between his first and second XI sides.

Background: Tougher challenge today

Everton play their second game of the 2018-19 preseason today, with a trip to Gigg Lane to take on Bury. The Shakers are in fine form after holding the Blues’ Merseyside rivals Liverpool to a 0-0 draw at the Energy Check Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Blues meanwhile come into this game after having plundered 22 goals against hapless 5th Division Austrian side ATV Irdning.

This will pose a bit more of a competitive challenge for the Toffees, despite Bury getting relegated from League One last season as they gear up for a quick return. The last time the two sides met was in a preseason game in July 2011 with Everton winning 4-1 after a brace from Magaye Gueye as well as goals from Aiyegbeni Yakubu and Leon Osman.

Match Information:

Time: Wednesday, July 18th | Energy Check Stadium | 7:45PM BST | 2:45PM EST
Television: Eleven Sports Network, beIN Sports HD 5, beIN Sports Connect
Stream: https://www.evertonfc.com/live (must be a member to watch)

We’ll have the starting lineup up here for you as soon as it’s out, but it’ll be interesting to see if Marco Silva maintains the same two lineups that he rolled out over the weekend, or if there will be some mixing-and-matching going on from whatever little he could learn in that game.

For players like Yannick Bolasie, Kevin Mirallas, Muhamed Besic and Davy Klaassen, this might be shop window to show off what they have while youngsters like Kieran Dowell, Callum Connolly and Antonee Robinson will look to cement senior squad spots in the coming weeks.