Well, they wouldn’t have been done any harm by his second half performance against Gor Mahia on Thursday, especially given the fact he scored a fine winner for the Toffees from range.
Everton went ahead with a stunner from Wayne Rooney but after Kieran Dowell, one of 11 changes at half time, had already hit the crossbar from 25-30 yards the academy graduate hit a brilliant winner against the Kenyan side.
Dowell, an England U20 World Cup winner this summer, is looking to build on that success and use Everton’s pre-season to impress Ronald Koeman and force himself into his Blues first team squad on a regular basis.
He told the Official Website: ‘It’s good to be playing in front of the manager and the first team staff and hopefully I can do more stuff like I did today. When you come back in pre-season it’s like a clean slate so it’s about getting yourself on the scoresheet and playing well.’
It was a 45 minute outing Dowell was pleased with, as he was to get on the scoresheet obviously, with Everton’s productivity improving after break.
‘We all got 45 minutes each and it’s good to get your first game of the season out of the way, and it was good to get my first goal as well. Before the goal came, I created a few chances and I thought the team were really productive in the second half.’
Yes, Dowell was pleased with his performance, that of the whole team in the second half, but he held his hands up to admit Gor Mahia did tire as the game went on, which benefited the Blues.
‘Those of us who played in the second half were fortunate because I thought the Kenyan team tired as the game went on. But it was a good game from the lads.’
