The script was almost written before kick off, because Wayne Rooney is, after all, the opening day specialist.
This was the eighth time he has scored on the opening weekend of the Premier League season, which makes him the joint record holder alongside Frank Lampard and Alan Shearer.
And how special it was, the returning hero coming back to the green fields of his youth, the stadium where he spent so many years dreaming of glory, to write yet another chapter in this famous club's history.
It was as if those 13 years had melted away, that he had never been away from Everton in fact, because this was the passionate, fired-up kid who has Blue in his veins, such was Rooney's obvious passion on an incredible afternoon.
Poor Stoke were the victims. They were harried and hassled by the veteran striker all afternoon, and they must have known as we did that the cries of Rooney, Rooney, would ring around this stadium before the afternoon's end.
He was at the heart of everything good about Everton, and was a fitting man of the match, and his moment came just on the stroke of half time when an otherwise organised and resolute Stoke lost concentration for a second.
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It came in first half stoppage time, a great control and drag back from new boy Sandro, a fine cross from the exciting young forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and there was Rooney, rising above the leaden disappointment of his last season at Old Trafford to roll back the years.
It was a perfect header, across and above Jack Butland who could only stand and admire the art of his one time England team-mate, and there was the moment, the sound of a home-coming, and the sound of total acceptance from the converted Blues support.
Here's how the game unfolded...
Rooney scores!
Everton are in front... and it’s a goal from Wayne Rooney!
And it’s an absolute screamer.
It had to be him, didn’t it? Incredible.
Ronald Koeman checks Everton expectations as he admits Toffees still behind big six despite free-spending summer
Ronald Koeman has added a touch of realism to Everton’s fantasy football summer, by admitting his team still do not bear comparison with the Premier League’s big six.
The Dutch boss is determined to gatecrash the bunfight for a Champions League place, but he knows that one successful transfer window alone cannot bridge the gap to some of the richest clubs in the world.
And as he prepared for the visit of Stoke to Goodison on the opening weekend of the season, he offered cautious comparison between his own threadbare forward line and the powerful attacking units that last season’s top six can boast.
“I know the expectations are higher than last season, but I always look to be realistic. We can improve and spend money but everyone can improve and is spending money,” he explained.
“It is difficult still because we really have one striker.
“Sandro is a striker and Dominic Calvert-Lewin is a striker of 21. He needs to improve. He has a lot of talent.”