Werder Bremen 1-0 Everton: Bundesliga side dominate as Sandro Wagner goal downs David Moyes' men

The Merseyside outfit made a bright start to the friendly, but soon allowed the home side to create their own chances with Wagner eventually opening the scoring just before half-time.

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Bremen came out even more confident and dominated the midfield battle with some silky passing and should have scored more on top of their single goal.

Moyes made four changes to the squad that beat Birmingham City on Saturday. Jan Mucha came in for Tim Howard, whilst Sylvain Distin, Tim Cahill and Ross Barkley also got starts.

Everton youngster Barkley gave the visitors their first real chance of the game with a spirited run inside from the left which allowed the midfielder enough space to fire an effort towards the Bremen keeper who was able to collect with a solid save.

A positive start from Moyes’ men came to an end with the Bremen attackers having a flurry of chances, including a tough header at the far post for Wagner that only just drifted the wrong side of the post.

Wagner finally broke the game’s deadlock on 37 minutes following a defensive absence from the Everton back two. A long ball from inside the Toffee’s half bounced within Mucha’s area and with none of the defenders dealing with the danger, the forward was able to head into the corner.

Aaron Hunt had a chance to make it two just after the restart, but the striker's feisty shot was aimed straight at substitute Howard.

A double effort from Leighton Baines could have turned Everton’s fortunes around if his free-kick rebound had evaded the fingertips of Bremen’s Sebastian Mielitz. The full-back’s follow-up looked to be heading for the bottom corner, before the keeper’s slightest of touches pushed the ball onto the post.

Markus Rosenberg was put through on goal after a delicious chip from Marko Marin, the Swede caught Phil Neville flat-footed but couldn’t make the chance pay and pulled his shot wide.

Bremen pressed until the end, with Everton on the back-foot for most of the second half and had to be thankful that the scoreline remained at 1-0.