Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Jim McDonagh joined Everton ON THIS DAY in 1980.

The Blues had finished the previous campaign one place above the relegation zone, despite reaching the FA Cup semi-finals, and the goalkeeping duties had been shared by George Wood and Martin Hodge.

Gordon Lee dipped into the transfer market and brought in McDonagh from Bolton Wanderers when Wood moved to Arsenal.

McDonagh, who would later insist on being referred to by his given Christian name of Seamus, had a long career in the game both as a player and a coach, but his spell at Goodison lasted just one season before new manager Howard Kendall sold him back to Bolton and brought in Jim Arnold and Neville Southall.

David Moyes’ Everton started their tour of the USA with a 1-0 defeat in Philadelphia ON THIS DAY in 2011.

Teenager Christian Hernandez scored the only goal of the game with just three minutes remaining following an uncharacteristic mistake by Leighton Baines and, unusually for a pre-season friendly, Everton had John Heitinga sent-off for two bookable offences.

Mikel Arteta was the pick of the Blues players and teenage striker Apostolos Vellios also impressed when he came off the bench.

Everton were in action in Thailand ON THIS DAY in 2005.

The 50,000-capacity Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok was the venue for the opening game of the Premier League Asia Trophy tournament and the Blues were up against a Thailand Under-23 side.

Pitchitpong gave the hosts an early lead but Marcus Bent scored an equaliser just before half-time with a nice finish after collecting an excellent through pass from Leon Osman.

The game, which was refereed by Mark Clattenburg, finished 1-1 and was decided on penalty kicks.

Thailand Under-23s scored all five of theirs past Nigel Martyn, and while David Weir, James McFadden and Kevin Kilbane scored for Everton, Joseph Yobo miscued to hand victory to the hosts.