|
|
|
BARCLAY'S
FA Premiership League / Sun 06th May
2006 / Kick Off: 3:00 pm
|
|
EVERTON |
2 |
v |
2 |
WBA |
Everton:
Turner,
Neville
,
Weir, Stubbs, Nuno Valente, Osman, Davies, Arteta, Kilbane , McFadden, Ferguson.
Bench:
Anichebe
(Kilbane), Van Der Meyde (Davies) Ruddy, Naysmith, Ferrari.
Referee: Alan's Willey
|
Last game of a poor season, and my only disappointment is that there will be no after match piss up's till at least August. My head is banging, so if I keep it short forgive me. Before the battle commenced Everton paid a fitting tribute to one of it's own, the late great Brian Labone. Fittingly Z Cars was played as the crowd stood as one to applaud a true Everton legend who died last week, and there was not a dry eye in the house. Dunc was captain for the day, so you did not have to be brain of Britain to work out that this was the end of a player who himself has graced Goodison, for over eleven years. Love him or hate him, he has brought us some entertainment down the years, and not all of it legal. He wears the tattoo of the club on his arm, and he is an Evertonian. We had our pre match bet, £30 on Dunc for first goal, we should have gone last goal, but I blame Jogger, nuff said. West Brom relegated a few weeks ago, took the lead through an Everton target Zoltan Gera. If I am honest here, I left my seat at half three to get the ale in for the boys, as is custom as we were on our end of season piss up, and the game was shite. The major debate at half time was not about our piss poor defending, or our lack of opportunities up front, but shall we fuck off to the ale house now, or give it ten minutes, we gave it ten minutes then we left. Half Time: EVERTON 0 WBA 1 I can tell you jack shit about the second half apart from Martinez netted to put the Albion two up, they scored, Lard and myself left, enough is enough. The ale in the Clock was fantastic though, and believe me we were not the only Blues to leave that early, as several other fans poured out with half an hour to go. It summed our season up, and it has to be better for next year. We pay good money to see shite served up. We are Everton FC, winners of the top Division nine times, five FA Cups, European honours, do these people realise, mid table mediocrity is nothing to be happy about. A funny tale happened later in the evening. Sausage, Ernie, Kipper and myself were enjoying a pint or three and putting the world to rights with a few pals in the Post Office pub in town. Who did we bump into, no other than Tiny Tim and the Big Man himself enjoying a post match pint, well champers actually. I told Dunc I had left just after their second went in, and he said he did not blame me, as he would have probably have done the same himself. My only regret is that I did not see Dunc score his last ever goal at Goodison for his beloved Blues. So Everton pulled it back, and finished the season in eleventh, yippee. Right I am off to get my marriage back on track after a season of following Everton to mid table mediocrity. Bill, Moyesy, Paul Gregg, sort this fuckin' mess out for next season will you, please, we deserve better. Full Time: EVERTON 2 WBA 2
|
|
* Dunc's Daughter in the pre match kick in. Even she had a left peg on her as she charged up to the Park End from the Street End |
| West Brom the team who tonked us 4-0 back in November are the visitors. They are now relegated and we are trying to finish in 10th spot. The fans will be given the opportunity to pay their respects to Toffees legend Brian Labone, who died this week, aged 66. If the players could honour his memory by concluding the campaign with successive Premiership victories, and achieve that 10th place, the club would get £5.36 million in merit payments added to their coffers. Everton have a few injury doubts. As well as long term injuries to Pisto (remember him?), Big Nige, Tony Hibbert, Tim Cahill, Biffa Beattie has a slight calf strain and may miss out. Joseph Yobo is also a doubt. Dickie Wright may be fit but Moyesy has already said that Iain Turner will start in goal. Lets hope he lasts longer than he did against Blackburn when he was sent off. Matteo Ferrari is back in the squad, after a weeks absence, hopefully he will get the nod if Joey is ruled out. But don't be surprised if the two arl fella's are Moyesy's choice at the back. If that's the case it will be interesting to see if Matteo stays to watch the game or gets the next flight back to Italy. Lee Carsley is still banned. Blue Kipper's Star Man Of The Season Mikel Arteta should start after recovering from injury. Nuno Valente is hoping to get a start to boost his World Cup chances. Lets hope we see Vidarsson and Anichebe at some stage. If Biffa doesn't make it, Moyesy will choose between Big Dunc, who wants a new one year deal and Vic. Stubbsy says: "They won't be here for the ride and I am sure they will have a good following and a lot of pride to play for. But I am glad we are not playing them with the possibility of sending them down because that is the last thing we would have wanted. We looked at that a couple of weeks ago. With Steve being there and Kev the last thing we wanted to do was be the club that sent them down. I am glad in that respect that, whilst it has happened, it is not us doing it because they are two great lads who did really well here. We will be glad to see them but at the end of the day we want a result. They will get a great reception, as all players do if you have been here and done well. If you were seen to be giving 100 per cent all the time the fans appreciate that and I am sure they will get a good reception. Yes, we will want to go out on a high. It is our last home game and we want to go off in a bit of style. It has been a disappointing last six weeks because we had an outside chance of getting into Europe. But when you consider how we started the season and where we are now, we have done well to have the chance to finish in the top 10. A better start and I am sure we would have finished in a European place. It is important we play well on Sunday, give the fans something to cheer about." (06/05/06) Moyesy says: "We want to finish the season off with another win, we beat Middlesbrough and now want to beat West Brom. The fans want to see this, but no more than me and the players want. We lost 4-0 at West Brom earlier in the season, but we have not been relegated and the praise should go to the players for achieving that. We did not start to do anything different after that, but there were good players at the club who were not in form and that effected the beginning of our season. But they got some good results and the form came back along with the confidence. We are, though, disappointed that we have not been able to have any effect on the top half of the table. That is something we really must improve on. We want to finish well, and maybe that can be carried into next season. Since the turn of the year we have been okay. That is what we want to continue." (06/05/06) Everton from: Turner, Ruddy, Yobo, Neville, Weir, Stubbs, Ferrari, Valente, Naysmith, Osman, Davies, Arteta, Kilbane, McFadden, Vidarsson, Van der Meyde, Beattie, McFadden, Ferguson, Anichebe. Kipper's Very Unlikely Everton XI To Start: Turner, Neville, Ferrari, Stubbs, Valente, Osman, Arteta, Davies, Vidarsson, Ferguson, Anichebe, Kipper's Bet: £10 on Vic Anichebe to score first goal and Everton to win 3-1 (60/1) |
| Ex-Everton favourites, Super Kevin Campbell and Stevie Watson are hoping to play, although manager Brian Robson could play a few youngsters. The Baggies have not won in two months and are relegated. West Brom are without defender Martin Albrechtsen, Neil Clement and Thomas Gaardsoe. Jared Hodgkiss could make his first Premiership start. Zolten Gera should start. West Brom manager Brian Robson says: ""I've said all along we've got quite a few players who will make really good players in the long term. They just need time to mature. Tomasz Kuszczak has done well, but he's still inexperienced, there's a lot of improvement in him. Curtis Davies has come into the Premiership and done well, that's been a major step for him. It's hard work trying to compete with the big boys in the Premiership with the budget we are on. But the club is fine in the sense that we'll never get in trouble like some clubs have. Sometimes the fans are upset because they feel the the club's not going that step further, but they can be encouraged by the fact that the club will never be in financial difficulty. This club
has always had an 'A' plan and a 'B' plan. That is the way it is structured.
As a manager you operate the same with your staff. I knew the players
I would have wanted to take on if we were still in the Premiership.
Now we are in the Championship then there are the certain type of players
you would want to bring in. I've
been in the Championship twice before and I was fortunate to win promotion
on both occasions. I need to make sure I do it a third time with West
Brom." |
If
you want to comment on the team news, what your think the team will be or
comment on any aspects of the match itself
e-mail info@bluekipper.com
Jogger's
Snapshots |
Young Toffees |
Sting Ray | Sausage's Sandwiches
Cod Pieces | Look-A-Likes
| Tomorrow's Chip Papers I Top
Toffee Ale 'ouses|
Home
e-mail
info@bluekipper.com