By CovSid67
August 3 2009

Well, the 'arrive early to avoid the queues' message looked way wide of the mark, but at least enough people turned up to mean Marcus Hall never made a loss on his testimonial! The early Sunday morning collapse of the ticketing system at the Ricoh probably didn't help boost the numbers....

There were differing opinions on the amount of people needed to turn up to avoid MH owing money, with the official line stating 4,000 supporters or more were required, with others suggesting 6,000. Around 8,000 seems to be the general consensus on the actual amount that bothered, with a decent Everton turn-out (Thankfully). There were cameras at this match, so, if you missed it, it could soon be available in the club shop!

The Toffees are probably the best pre-season side (In terms of home supporters actually having any knowledge of the opposition) in recent history to turn up for a Coventry City friendly (And to help Marcus celebrate his big day!), and, according to Chris Coleman, they played for free! Hats off to Mr. Moyes and his men - especially as they put out what looked to be the strongest side available to them....

This was a decent enough final run-out for what's left of any potential first team that could face Ipswich next Sunday, with a couple of not-very-friendly challenges being made throughout! Captain-for-the-day Marcus Hall left one opponent on the deck for a good few minutes following one hefty tackle (The referee should have sent him off!), while an unnecessary challenge from Vaughan left Westwood needing a fair few minutes treatment too.

Everton twice took the lead in this match (On the newly narrowed pitch!), with Cahill opening the scoring on 15 minutes, firing in the rebound after Westwood had saved his original effort, and Doyle equalising on 34 minutes (Following decent play from Cain). Best had missed a sitter prior to Doyle's goal, while Doyle also had a fine effort saved in the second half.

Marcus was withdrawn early in the second half (Receiving generous applause from the Everton support), and was replaced by Peter Gilbert - a player recently released by Sheffield Wednesday - who was greeted with a loud 'Whooooooooooo?' by the home section of the crowd! (Welcome to the Ricoh!). Despite being unknown to most, Gilbert looked solid enough during his time on the pitch.

Everton substitute Baxter seemingly gave Everton the win with an 84th minutes goal, before what looked a routine stop from a Gunnarsson header sneaked past Howard to leave the final scores at 2-2. While Everton's football was far slicker throughout, Coventry City did produce enough to suggest that this season might not be quite the struggle some thought it might be. A few decent additions to the squad wouldn't hurt though....

Apart from not being hammered, positives taken from this fixture were: Westwood looked as fairly sharp (This can only be classed as a positive if he's still here!); Wright looked solid enough at the back; Clingan looked a marked improvement on Buezelin from last season; and Best looked sharp too. 

The side still lack pace (A couple of times a Coventry player raced off up the pitch, only to find they were lacking in support), and the side is still severely lacking in height, so maybe encouraging the players to grow Fellaini style 'big hair' has to be an option this season?! (And beyond!).

Coventry XI: Westwood, Osbourne (Clarke), Hall (Gilbert), Turner, Wright, Cain (Eastwood), Clingan, Gunnarsson, Doyle, Best, Morrison (Jeffers). SNU: Konstantopolous, Walker, Grandison.

Everton XI: Nash (Howard), Hibbett (Baxter), Baines, Yobo, Neville, Vaughan (Agard), Cahill (Wallace), Osman, Fellaini, Jo (Jutkiewicz), Rodwell. SNU: Duffy, Forshaw.