Chris Lakey Tim Cahill showed few signs of a World Cup hangover as he notched the first hat-trick of his Everton career. The Aussie struck on six minutes, after keeper John Ruddy fumbled his tame shot, and then added a second before half-time after a mistake by Elliott Ward was compounded by fellow centre-half Michael Nelson.

Chris Lakey

Tim Cahill showed few signs of a World Cup hangover as he notched the first hat-trick of his Everton career.

The Aussie struck on six minutes, after keeper John Ruddy fumbled his tame shot, and then added a second before half-time after a mistake by Elliott Ward was compounded by fellow centre-half Michael Nelson.

The hat-trick goal, which made it 4-2 to Everton on 70 minutes, also had a little help from City, but the finish, when he clipped it over Ruddy's head from close in and then volleyed it home, was pure class.

“Ruddy's a big guy and he charged out quite quick and there was nowhere really to play the ball so I just dinked it over him and finished with my left foot so I'm happy with it,” said Cahill.

“I've scored a few goals here and there. Scoring any hat-trick makes me happy.”

Everton showed touches of Premier League class in front of a crowd of more than 13,000, including about 1,500 of their own fans.

And Cahill believes a great season is ahead for the Merseysiders.

“The key is to stay fit and play as well as you can,” he said.

“We've got a great team and a great squad and we're building something special here.

“Pre-season's been really good and the gaffer's made sure I've stayed on the pitch and hopefully things like this will happen more often.”

Everton boss David Moyes was understandably happy with Cahill's contribution.

“We want him to do that for us in the Premier League,” he said. “His third goal was fantastic.”

Moyes says a deal to sign former loan star Landon Donovan is likely to be too expensive.

The 28-year-old American World Cup hero spent three months at Goodison Park at the beginning of the year and it would appear both manager and player want to be reunited.

“We'd love to have Landon but he looks too expensive for us and we just don't have it,” said Moyes.

“We don't have the finances. The price the MLS want for him is very big and it's an additional problem because of his age. “All we've done is spend �1m on Magaye Gueye so far. Jermaine Beckford and Jan Mucha were free, so we've spent no money by Premier League standards and will probably be the ones who spend the least this season.”

Beckford helped Leeds finish second to City in the League One promotion race last season before his free transfer move to Goodison in the summer - and Moyes believes the striker deserves his chance to mix it with the Premier League hot-shots.

“Sometimes people in life need opportunities and we're going to give Jermaine that opportunity to see if he can score goals in the Premier League,” he said. “He can certainly do it in the lower leagues and from what I've seen, I can see how he is a goalscorer. He's looked fantastic in training. Whether he can step up to the big league, we don't know.

“It was a gamble but not one too expensive for us to try.”