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Finally on a (Swiss) roll

Seamus Coleman bravely headed Everton to their first win of pre-season after an entertaining friendly with AS Monaco.

The Blues right-back reacted quickest to Oumar Niasse's deflected shot which looped goalkeeper Diego Benaglio and nodded home from close range.

Coleman took a whack on the face for his troubles but would be fine to continue and help Marco Silva's side to the 1-0 win at the end of a productive week in Switzerland.

But Everton were also indebted to Maarten Stekelenburg who saved a first-half penalty.

Catch up on every kick of Everton's win right HERE

Silva's side came mighty close to a second in the closing stages when a swift counter-attack launched by Oumar Niasse saw Theo Walcott given a sight of goal but his effort was cleared off the line by Fode Toure.

Niasse and Tom Davies would also hit the woodwork in the second-half.

The Blues flew straight back to Liverpool following the game and are next in action on Wednesday night when they face Wigan Athletic.

Everton: Stekelenburg, Coleman, Keane, Gibson, Digne, Gomes (Adeniran '82), Schneiderlin (Davies '46), Broadhead (Walcott '46), Sigurdsson (McCarthy '74), Bernard (Mirallas '78), Niasse.

Stek-ing with it

(Image: Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)

The signing of Jonas Lossl is designed to bring out the best in Jordan Pickford.

But it may also be having that impact on Maarten Stekelenburg.

The veteran Dutch keeper was handed a start by Marco Silva against Monaco today and offered a timely reminder of his qualities.

A feeling had grown that Stekelenburg had instantly dropped to third in the goalkeeping pecking order but a penalty save to deny Marcos Lopes, another to stop Moussa Sylla's follow-up and the pick of the bunch to palm away Cesc Fabregas' stinging effort, were all part of his first-half highlight reel.

Stekelenburg may yet find himself third choice but he looks determined to put pressure on both Pickford and Lossl.

Attendance

(Image: Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)

The commitment of Evertonians to travel in support of their club never ceases to amaze – especially in pre-season.

A crowd of 1100 at the Stade St Marc this evening was largely made up of Blues fans who had descended on this corner of Switzerland earlier in the day.

Many had made the journey by bus and would set out on the return leg just hours after the friendly had finished.

Talk about dedication. At least they got to see a win and many took away the souvenir of selfies and photos with Silva and Gomes.

But the number of Everton supporters was swelled by some unexpected guests.

Majority owner Farhad Moshiri, board member Sasha Ryanzantsev and director of football Marcel Brands were all in Bagnes to check in on pre-season progress.

Minutes man

(Image: Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)

After three games of Everton's summer schedule, there's one man leading the pack: Lewis Gibson.

The teenage defender has clocked up around 213 minutes and more than any other player used by Marco Silva so far.

Gibson, along with a number of his under-23 title-winning team-mates, have been given an opportunity to be part of the first-team as a number of senior players make staggered return after international commitments.

But like Nathan Broadhead (second on the minutes list with 195) he is in there on merit and the centre-half's performance tonight was his best yet in pre-season as he played his part in the win and clean sheet.

More experienced defenders will be given a hard time by Gelson Martins and fouling him to concede a first-half penalty is just part of the youngster's learning curve.

And cannot overshadow his overall, confident and composed, display.

(For the record, Niasse is next on the list with 189 minutes, followed by Andre Gomes with 188).

No sign of the new man

(Image: Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)

Silva had teased the possibility that new signing Fabian Delph would be given a first run-out this evening.

Disappointingly, for the travelling Blues the only sight of the £8.5m recruit was during the warm-up where he joined Cenk Tosun, Joe Williams and Ademola Lookman – all nursing injuries – in light running work around the pitch.

It was a sensible decision by Silva.

Last season, Delph only made 20 appearances in all competitions and last played a competitive game in March and so having managed his workload this week, Silva was right not to risk injury this early in his Everton career by playing him against Monaco.