Planes, Waynes, and Blues show their Steel

Full House
By Chris Kirwan
August 18 2002

Everton kicked off their season with a well-deserved late point yesterday thanks to a late goal by Tomasz Radzinski that levelled proceedings after Tottenham had threatened to spoil the ‘100 years’ party.

Celebrations created a great atmosphere at a ridiculously hot Goodison; I was sweating like a racehorse in the Lower Gwladys so I dread to think how dehydrated the players were. A plane flew around Goodison with a banner lauding Everton’s feat of reaching 100 years in the top flight, and a rousing reception was given to each Goodison legend that made their way onto the pitch prior to kick-off. Heroes such as Young, Sharp, Sheedy and Kendall turned out to commemorate the historic achievement. And then we had the songs.

We were treated by renditions of ‘No Other Team’ and a revamped ‘O Come all Ye Faithful’. Bill Kenwright has a lot to answer for! Every Blue I saw was grimacing through embarrassment, thank God that we were only playing Tottenham and not some team that could continuously remind us of the event. If we had entered ‘Pop Stars’ we certainly wouldn’t have got through the first round.

Then the game, the teams were given a guard of honour by the Everton legends as they came onto the pitch to Z Cars, a real song. Moyes gave debuts to Richard Wright, Li Tie and Wayne Rooney (an unknown youngster who has crept quietly into the first team). As for Tottenham, Carr returned after injury and a Gobshite made his debut in midfield. Les Ferdinand, our arch nemesis, lurked on the bench. Taricco got a ‘nice’ reception after trying to amputate Gravesen’s leg last year.

The Blues dominated the first half, with the 4-3-3 formation working well. Rooney was bright and lively, and the midfield trio of Gravesen, Pembo, and Li Tie were allowing Naysmith and Hibbert to overlap well. Li Tie was particularly impressive on his debut, working hard and using the ball well. After Campbell had shot straight at Keller, the Blues got the breakthrough on 37 minutes.

The midfield worked well to win the ball and Gravesen sent Radzinski scuttling down the right flank. He played the ball to Rooney on the ‘D’ of the area, and he quickly spun 360º to play a perfectly weighted ball into the path of Pembridge who crashed home the first goal of the season at Goodison.

The second half started out much the same as the first, with the Blues in the ascendancy. Rooney forced Keller to tip over, and Stubbs continued to be dangerous from set-pieces. Radzinski and Rooney were changing flanks to great effect, and the Canadian’s pace was unsettling the large Spurs defence that was marshalling Campbell so well.

But then Tottenham clicked into gear. Etherington was superb down the left flank, doubling up with Thatcher to give Hibbert problems. After having their first real spell of possession the pressure took its toll on 63 minutes. The Gobshite worked the ball out to the left where Etherington, Spurs’ best player by a stretch, scored a similar goal to Pembo’s. Moyes would later say Wright should have done better but this seems a tad harsh. Etherington’s growing influence prompted Moyes to introduce Alexandersson for Rooney to give Hibbert some much-needed support.

Then on 72 minutes Les Ferdinand came on to groans from the Everton fans. This meant we had to score again, as he always scores against the Blues. And to nobody’s surprise he popped up with a goal on 74, a weak shot squirming under Wright’s body. Glad to see we’ve finally solved our goalkeeping problems then! There can be no doubt about this goal being attributed to a Wright error; it was a howler of Gerrard proportions.

Everton needed to give impetus to an attack that has worked hard on a roasting day, so we brought on a touch of Brazilian class (I still can’t believe I’m saying that!). Rodrigo came on for Li Tie who had greatly impressed me on his debut. To their great credit the Everton players plugged away, and the deserved equaliser came on 80 minutes.

Campbell, who tirelessly worked hard to win possession from an excellent Tottenham centre-back partnership all afternoon, sent Radzinki scampering free on the right, he cut back past Richards and sent the ball past Keller at the near post into the net.

The only thing that remained was for Unsworth to come on and promptly become the only player to get booked (N. Barry refereed excellently, letting play flow in a well contested, but well spirited game). At the final whistle there was relief that the Blues hadn’t lost on a historic day. All in all it was a fair result in an entertaining affair.



My Blues’ Star Player: Pembridge – Worked hard all game in scorching conditions. Popped up with a good goal, and his delivery from set plays was always dangerous. Also provided cover for Naysmith. Just pips Weir for the honour.

For them: Etherington: It was his threat that got them back into the game.