Everton were left to rue a string of missed chances as they were denied victory over Davide Ancelotti’s Lille in the dying seconds of their final friendly match of pre-season.
Iliman Ndiaye put the Blues ahead from the penalty spot late in the first half after Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was brought down, calmly rolling the ball past Berke Ozer. But after David Moyes made seven changes in the second half, his side became disjointed.
Late heartbreak at Hill Dickinson Stadium
Harrison Armstrong had early spurned a golden opportunity to double the lead and after debutant Brennan Johnson also missed a couple of chances, the Blues were punished in stoppage time as a Lille equaliser, that had looked increasingly likely, finally came from Hakon Haraldsson.
Jordan Pickford, returning from his record-breaking exploits at the World Cup, was penalised for holding onto the ball for too long but was otherwise flawless, picking out Thierno Barry for a chance with a long punt upfield and denying Basar Onal with a low hand when the Lille player tried to go around him.
Standout performers and debutants
Merlin Rohl, with Everton still not having signed a new right-back, offered more going forward than centre-back Jake O’Brien in the role and, as well as dovetailing well with Tyler Dibling, forced a smart stop from Ozer with a low left-foot drive before moving into central midfield after the raft of changes. Vitalii Mykolenko kept tabs on Kylian Mbappe’s teenage brother Ethan and played the reaching pass to Dewsbury-Hall that won the penalty.
James Tarkowski showed typically strong leadership at the back, while Jarrad Branthwaite played a pinpoint through-ball to Barry in the first couple of minutes and brought an added dimension striding out from defence. Harrison Armstrong capped a promising pre-season with another bright display but missed an absolute sitter when one-on-one with the keeper. Hayden Hackney, given an appreciative pre-match roar from the home fans ahead of his Hill Dickinson Stadium debut, still looks tidy on the ball.
Second-half substitutes and impact
Among the substitutes, Mark Travers made a smart stop to deny Benjamin Andre but found Haraldsson’s last-gasp strike too hot to handle. Brennan Johnson might have had a hat-trick had he showed more composure, while Tyrique George showed plenty of creativity down the left. Beto currently looks to have dropped back to the understudy role in the job share between the two Everton strikers.
