David Unsworth already knows his "strongest" Everton under-23s team ahead of the new season after just one game of pre-season.
The young Blues lost 2-1 to National League North Southport in a behind-closed-doors game this afternoon but Unsworth said his side were "outstanding" for the first hour.
Ellis Simms put Everton ahead only for Port to equalise midway through the second-half and then grab a winner in time added on.
Unsworth selected a starting line-up of: Tyrer, John, Ouzounidis, Astley, Anderson, Hunt, Iversen, Onyango, Hughes, Dobbin, Simms, before making changes.
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Other than the inclusion of new signing Niels Nkounkou at left-back, who didn't feature today, the Blues' coach believes that starting XI is the strongest available to him.
“For the first hour the performance was outstanding,” Unsworth said.
“It was a great workout and I saw some really good things, there was some great play.
“It was a boiling hot day, and a great first pre-season game for us which was very competitive.
“There are lots of good things to work with, which [assistant manager] John Ebbrell, [coach] Franny Jeffers and I are delighted about.
“We had our strongest team out for that first hour - before we made lots of substitutions - and we played some outstanding football. Really good stuff.
“My only criticism is, we could have scored more goals to finish the game off.
“But there are lots of positives to take.”
And the friendly also brought an area of team's defence that Unsworth insists must improve ahead of the new Premier League 2 season.
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“Facing those teams show the level of competitiveness there is at senior level,” he added.
“It also shows the importance of aspects like set-pieces, because the opponents are a lot stronger and more physical.
“Southport scored from a set-piece today, so that’s something hopefully the players will learn from.
“It so important to be able to compete physically in professional football.
“It was a great learning game for us against Southport and we’ll look forward to another one next week.”
