Sean Dyche is adamant there is no substance to his side’s training game defeat to non-league Chester, insisting the real story is Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s progress.
A team containing a number of first team players - who between them had collected dozens of international caps - lost 1-0 to the National League North side on Tuesday.
For Dyche, the only thing that mattered was that Calvert-Lewin came through the game unscathed to take another step towards his return from a hamstring problem. The 26-year-old has not played a competitive fixture since he was brought off during Everton’s win over Arsenal in early February.
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With seven games of the season left and Everton struggling for goals, Calvert-Lewin’s much-anticipated return could be pivotal to the battle for survival. In the aftermath of last weekend’s defeat to Fulham, Dyche volunteered that the striker could be in contention for the squad as Everton travel to face Crystal Palace on Saturday. Those hopes have been boosted by the 65 minutes he received against Chester in a match at Finch Farm that was essentially held for his benefit.
Asked about the result in that game, Dyche said it meant little and that to focus on the result as the main issue would be to be misguided, adding: “The story behind that [result] is actually the truth, that’s ‘can we get Dominic Calvert-Lewin minutes on a pitch in a more competitive manner?’ Which we did. That has to be the focus because you can’t start changing the focus. My focus is that, I don’t start changing the focus. Did he look sharp? Yes. Did he play well? Yes. Could he have scored? Yes, numerous times. But was he in there to score? Yes. Did he come through it unscathed? Yes.”
Yerry Mina, Conor Coady, Nathan Patterson, Abdoulaye Doucoure, Tom Davies, Ellis Simms and Mason Holgate were also involved in the training game - none of whom started the Fulham game. Asked whether their involvement in a defeat to a sixth tier side caused him any concern, Dyche responded: “No. I look at it and go: ‘Well done Chester.’ Brilliant reality of football, 5-4-1, hardly attack, wait for a chance, try to win a game. Well done you but that’s still not relevant to me.
"Because we are where we are, they are where they are. We know our market. We were just looking for players to come through unscathed, injury free, as sharp as we can get them when they’re not playing every week. These things have to be looked beyond because there’s a bigger picture. It’s not just us against Chester, that has no bearing on what is going on in the first team.”
Dyche suggested Calvert-Lewin would have been the main story had he endured a setback in that game, so said that, for him, the striker remained the main story because the match was primarily geared towards improving his fitness. He said: “The outcome I was looking for was: 'Can Dom play football and run around?' Which he can. Sometimes you have got to stick to the outcomes, because the rest of it sometimes has to be less important than that.
"And that is really important because look at the noise, look at what the noise has all been about since I came to the club. Apart from the ownership all the noise has been about Calvert-Lewin. And we’ve been working really, really hard with the physios, with the medics with him, to make sure we give him the best possible opportunity to be as fully fit as possible. That is the absolute outcome on this occasion.
"On another occasion if he was fully fit and everyone else was, I’d be going ‘hang on a minute’. But on this occasion, I had to stay focused on the prize, and this prize was for him to stay fit. It was my decision to take him off; he didn't want to come off, I was like, ’no, no, no’, that’s enough. I was zoned in on that, how is he looking, how’s he moving. You know, how is he feeling, all those sort of things.
"But it is a totally different one if he’d have been flying and fully fit, we would be having a different conversation, it would be with the players as well about that result. But the outcome is the outcome I was looking for and that is for Dom to play and be fit.”
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