SEAMUS COLEMAN STEPPED up his return from injury by playing 45 minutes of action for Everton’s U21 side tonight. 

Coleman hasn’t played since Ireland’s Nations League defeat in Armenia at the start of June, a game in which he picked up a groin injury for which he had minor surgery during the close-season. Having missed all of his club’s pre-season friendlies, Coleman played half of Everton’s 2-0 win over Blackburn in the U21s opening game of the Premier League 2 season. The competition has been regraded from an U23s league, though each side are permitted to field a limited number of overage players.

“Good to get some minutes”, Coleman told Everton’s media channel. “I was hanging on a bit toward the end of last season, so I had to get some work done. Ideally the target – which was probably a little bit unrealistic – was to get back in with a chance for Chelsea [tomorrow]. But the last couple of weeks I’ve turned a corner, I missed all the pre-season games so I needed some minutes tonight. I enjoyed it, tough at times, but good to get the minutes in the legs.

“It’s good to get the realistic football back in. I’ve been training well, but just to get the movements back again, I really enjoyed it and I really enjoyed being around the young lads in the dressing room, and trying to help them in any way I can.” 

Everton begin their Premier League season at home to Chelsea on Saturday at 5.30pm.