Phil Neville says: "We said we had to put in a really strong performance and I think we did that. We set the tempo of the game and showed a few glimpses that we’re coming back to form. It was hard with the altitude, but we stuck at it and played some good football. A few more players have got some valuable minutes under their belts and we can press on now in preparation for the Blackburn game.

See anything unusual or funny at the match today? e-mail info@bluekipper.com

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IF ANY EVERTON FAN WANTS TO WRITE A REPORT OF ANY OF THIS SEASON'S GAMES, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DO SO. JUST E-MAIL IT TO info@bluekipper.com AND WE WILL PUT IT HERE.

I saw Everton play at the Dick’s Sporting Good’s stadium in Denver, first time for them out here, a nice evening, the stadium about half full.

Everton started off brightly enough with a nicely taken goal from Arteta after a decent build up featuring Yakubu and Gosling. Unfortunately, Everton struggled to get going after the goal and while they looked solid at the back, there was little creativity going forwards. Obviously this was pre season for Everton, mid season for the Rapids, throw in altitude of 5,000 feet and the Rapids looked much quicker and sharper. Terry Cook, Manure reject made a few runs down the right, testing Howard once and putting in balls that were easily dealt with. Pienaar looked to be the only avenue of creativity for Everton but was unable to get in any telling balls. Yakubu hung around up front like a lonely man waiting for a bus that would never come - anything that did show up was easily mopped up by the Rapids defense. 1-0 at half time was flattering.

Mosey brought on Joey and Nuno for the second half, obviously trying to make sure we didn’t concede a goal but it didn’t work. Joey missed a through ball and Casey edged it past a diving Howard,1-1 a thoroughly deserved equaliser for the home side. From then on, Everton huffed and puffed but really couldn’t get anywhere, Yakubu getting more and more frustrated and ultimately getting booked. The Rapids were up for it and pressed forwards, testing Howard again. Then, a beautifully worked move starting from Neville on the right ended up with (I think) Pienaar pulling a ball back across the 6 yard box right to Ossie’s feet which he should have thumped into the roof of the net. Instead he decided to pass it into the arms of the grateful Rapids ‘keeper (Mr Burpo). Bad miss that. More pressure from the Rapids was soaked up by the Everton back line but then in the last 10 minutes, Baxter got one through to Ossie and he made up for his earlier miss. Howard was called into action one more time before Everton got a victory that was, to say the least, undeserved.

No doubt Howard was our star man, 3 great shot stops. Joey and Nuno looked solid enough without doing anything special, both the Jag and Joleon looked classy and made a couple of decent runs forward. Neville was solid at the back but as soon as he got within 10 yards of the halfway line, he would punt the ball hopefully forwards – for a minute I thought Hibbo was playing! Baines looked a bit lost and uncertain – he needs some match time this season to try and realise his potential. For me, both Arteta and Ossie were disappointing, easily dispossessed and making wayward passes. Pienaar looked the most creative on the pitch but was never going to achieve much with such little support. Gosling and Rodwell showed little indication that they would be anything other than bench warmers in the coming season. Cameo roles from Baxter and Jutkiewicz gave them little time to do much but Baxter did have a hand in the second goal and Jutkiewicz showed that he liked to get stuck in. Yakubu looked isolated and was effectively marked out of the game, proving that having him as a lone striker up front will get us nowhere.

One rather surreal (and amusing) incident after the game ended, a gobshite in a redshite top who had been singing that bloody irritating scouse song about wandering around aimlessly by yerself decided to run onto the pitch and get his photo taken at the centre spot. Cue rather heavy handedness by the ground security on both him and the kid who was with him, ending up with them and a couple of others being cuffed and marched off by plod. Don’t run on the pitch like that here in the US, you will get arrested, fined and maybe charged – no community policing here. Also, don’t wear a redshite jersey – it shows bad taste. Ian Linn, Loveland Colorado, Ex-Northwich.

What Do You Think The Score Will Be? e-mail info@bluekipper.com

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Lard's XI To Start: Howard, Neville, Lescott, Yobo, Baines, Arteta, Osman, Rodwell, Pienaar, Baxter, Yakubu

Everton from: Howard, Turner, Neville, Jagielka, Yobo, Lescott, Baines, Valente, Osman, Pienaar, Rodwell, Neville, Gosling, Yakubu, Arteta, Jutkiewicz, Baxter.

IF ANY EVERTON FAN WANTS TO WRITE A REPORT OF ANY OF THIS SEASON'S GAMES, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DO SO. JUST E-MAIL IT TO info@bluekipper.com AND WE WILL PUT IT ON THE SITE.