Monday 11 December 2017 19:22, UK
Yannick Bolasie made his return to competitive action on Monday, coming on as a substitute in Everton U23s' match against Leicester U23s at Belvoir Drive.
The 28-year-old winger has not featured for Everton for over a year having suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury in the 1-1 draw with Manchester United last December.
Bolasie, who returned to training in late November, replaced Dennis Adeniran in the 61st minute but was unable to prevent Everton U23s from slipping to a 2-1 defeat in the Premier League 2.
"Playing again was overwhelming," Bolasie told the club's website. "When I got on I felt good. I knew about two weeks ago I was going to play in this game so it's good.
"There wasn't any nerves. Now that I've played the 30 minutes there isn't any. Maybe before there was some because it's been a long time.
"Training is training - it's totally different in the matches when it matters so, yes, I'm happy.
"I want to be with the [first team] boys. Right now the team is doing really well so you're going to have to try to fight your way in but there's no rush for myself.
"I know what my role is because a year out in football means it will be a month or two before I'm really back at it but the main thing is that I feel okay.
"Just the smell of grass again in the game was great."
The Congo international joined Everton from Crystal Palace in August 2016 in a £28m deal and scored one goal in 15 appearances before injury cut short his debut campaign at the club.
His return to action will come as a further boost to new manager Sam Allardyce, who has enjoyed an unbeaten start to life at Everton.
Everton secured a 2-0 victory over Huddersfield at Goodison Park in Allardyce's first match in charge and then claimed a 1-1 draw in the Merseyside derby against Liverpool at Anfield on Super Sunday.
