Everton hosted Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv in a very special pre-season fixture especially for Vitalli Mykolenko amid the war that is ongoing in his home country.
Kyiv were in competitive action as recently as Wednesday as they defeated Turkish side Fenerbahce to get through in the Champions League qualifiers hence why eleven changes were made by manager Mircea Lucescu.
The result would have delighted the 2000 Ukrainian guests who were in attendance at Goodison Park tonight. though who would have been hoping to witness a victory in the match for peace however Everton did not let that happen as they won their fourth pre-season game 3-0.
The players came out all wearing Ukraine flags for the match for peace as a rendition of the Ukrainian national anthem was performed live for spectators before a moment of silence for the victims of the war.
It took the hosts only four minutes to break the deadlock with new signing James Tarkowski delicately floated a ball over the top of Kyiv’s defence allowing Dominic Calvert-Lewin to head it without hesitation past the goalkeeper to get The Toffees off to a magnificent start.
However just six minutes after that set-pieces came so close to being the demise of Frank Lampard’s side yet again as a short corner was crossed in and met with a free header by Oleksandr Karaviev.
Kyiv quickly grew into the game after their slow start by forcing England number one Jordan Pickford into action as he had to parry away a dangerous cross.
Everton responded well though as the game had a very open feel to it and Calvert-Lewin very nearly made it a brace for himself after he met Demarai Gray’s cross with his head.
Ruslan Neshcheret athletically tipped the effort over the bar and within minutes his side came even closer from another set-piece.
This time it was from a free-kick which met Vladyslav Vanat who was as free as a bird in the penalty area to supporters annoyance.
Arguably the moment of the half for supporters was a vital block and a crunching challenge from new man Tarkowski as the ground erupted with cheers after the challenge on Denys Antyukh.
Unfortunately for him he had to be forced off with ten minutes to go because of the challenge.
The last bit of action in the first half was a moment of brilliance produced from Pickford as he made a diving save to push wide a piledriver of a free-kick from Oleksandr Andriievskyi.
The second half began with Spirit of the Blues echoing round the ground and very nearly an Everton second as a cross from Gray had to be tipped over the bar by substitute keeper Denys Boyko who punched away the resulting corner.
On the hour mark Everton made a triple substitution with Dele Alli, Mason Holgate and debutant Dwight McNeil coming on.
Anthony Gordon forced a save from Boyko in the 67th min attempting to double the lead for Lampard’s men but his strike was too tame to cause any real issue.
Ten minutes after McNeil came on another debutant came on for Everton as Ruben Vinagre came onto the field alongside Salomon Rondon and Allan.
It was the first debutant who came onto the pitch McNeil who doubled Everton’s lead on the 73rd minute mark as he received the ball and ran at the defence before striking from the right on the edge of the box burying a powerful effort into the bottom right corner.
The new winger was not waiting around as five minutes later he nodded in for his second goal after a quick corner routine.
A delightful cross into the six yard area from Vinagre found him all alone to be able to not it in with the two new boys linking up excellently well from the off.
So, Lampard’s men rounded off their pre-season with two wins out of four and getting their first clean sheet against Kyiv in preparation for the Premier League season which kicks off against Chelsea.
New signings are also expected through the door before then, so there is lots to be optimistic about going into the new campaign for The Blues.
The game ended with an emotional moment for lifelong supporter Paul Stratton.
He converted the penalty confidently and done a knee slide to celebrate to top off a wonderful evening at Goodison Park.
