Everton 1 v 1 Tottenham Hotspur                            Mon. 20th Aug 2001

Live on Sky. K.O. 8.00pm.

Att:29,503

Everton : Gerrard, Watson, Weir, Stubbs, Pistone, Pembridge, Alexandersson, Gemmill, Gravesen, Ferguson, Campbell,

Subs: Simonsen, Moore (for Watson 74m), Tal (for Alexandersson 85m), Unsworth (for Gravesen 40m), Chadwick, Naysmith.

Bookings: Pistone, Ferguson, Weir

For the first time in a very long time, for consecutive games, Walter was able to name an unchanged side. Where do we start?! All the talk about this game will not be about Everton or Spurs but will be about one man - that prick Elleray!

The first 40 minutes of the first half seen Everton completely dominate the game. We played some really good stuff. In the first 20 minutes we had created 5 opportunities to go into the lead. Gemmill and Stubbs had 2 long range efforts, the first saved and the second a yard wide from a free kick 35 yards out. Duncan and Super Kev were causing mayhem up front. Duncan had a header saved by Sullivan then Niclas crashed a tremendous volley against the bar. Everton still piled the pressure on and Stubbs produced a great save from Sullivan who tipped his shot for a corner. From the resulting corner, Stubbs connected with a firm header and unbelievably, was cleared off the line by Super Kev who was trying to force the ball over the line.

The Toffeemen were playing with a lot of confidence and most of the trouble was caused by Alexandersson and Watson on the right. They were both throwing over quality crosses for big Dunc and Super Kev and really, with a bit of luck, Everton should have had this game won in the first 30 minutes. This was emphasised when Duncan had a goal bound header rebound off Doherty. With 5 minutes to go in the first half, the game turned sour. Gravesen, who was having a major influence on the game, was reeling in agony after a very nasty over the top challenge by gobshiteTaricco. Elleray didn't even speak to him. Gravesen was clearly in pain, and had to be carried off, he was replaced by Rhino.

Unbelievably, Spurs went ahead when Anderton followed up a blocked shot from Iverson. Straight from the kick off, Alexandersson hit a superb volley past Sullivan for what we thought was the equaliser, but for some unknown reason, Elleray disallowed what looked to be a perfect goal.

Half Time 0 - 1

For the first 10 minutes, Everton seemed to lack direction and were clearly missing Gravesen's influence on the game. However, in the 64th minute, the game went off like a bottle of pop!

A penalty was awarded when Super was brought down by Doherty, after being put through by a Duncan flick on. Incredibly, Elleray decided to send Doherty off. Who was going to take the pen, Rhino was on the pitch, but big Dunc stepped up and sent Sullivan the wrong way.

A couple of minutes later, it seemed as though Elleray was the one who wanted to grab the headlines in the morning papers, when he sent off the very ugly Poyet for a wreckless challenge on Steve Watson. With a full 20 minutes left, there should have only been one outcome - 3 points for the Toffeemen.

During the last 20 minutes, the Blues created very little against the 9-men Spurs. Substitutions were made, Joe Max came on for Steve Watson and Idan Tal came on for Niclas. On reflection, it would have been better if Spurs had 11 men during this period, because we certainly played a lot better against a full Tottenham side.

If Everton produce the form of the first 45 minutes against Middlesborough on Saturday, we should collect maximum points. The Blue Kipper Star Man goes to Niclas Alexandersson who had a goal disallowed and gave big Dunc and Super Kev quality service for most of the match.

Quotes

Alan Stubbs

. "It's been a long time coming but to finally get out there was great."

"After winning on Saturday we wanted six points out of six," he said. "But that's the way it is sometimes and it's just a bit disappointing because of some of the decisions that went against us.

"The lads were frustrated at half time because we thought their goal was well offside and we thoroughly deserved to be in the lead and couldn't believe we were 0-1 down."

"Towards the end, it probably did us no favours at all, them only having nine men, because they just camped inside the last 25 yards and it made it really difficult. Looking back on it now, perhaps we could have tried something a bit different late on, to break them down, but when you're out there it's always difficult and it's easy to reflect afterwards."

Walter Smith

I'm aggrieved we had a goal disallowed," said Smith. "The ref must be the only one in the stadium who saw an infringement.

"He said there was a push but wasn't quite sure who the push was from - so if he wasn't sure he shouldn't have blown." :

"Taricco's badly cut Thomas Gravesen's foot by going over the top of the ball - so I don't see how he (Elleray) has sent Poyet off and not Taricco. "

Glen Hoddle

"I told Taricco at half-time that I was unhappy with his challenge and a lot of people in football would also have been unhappy with it,"

Niclas Alexandersson

"I couldn't see anything wrong with the situation. I asked the referee and he said I pushed one - but that can't be true because I wasn't near anyone, so it's a bit disappointing.

Jogger

"You shithouse Taricco"