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Everton 2 v 2 Boro 31st Jan 2001. ko 8.00pm
Everton: Myhre,| Watson Bench:Unsworth, Simonsen, Cadamarteri, Xavier,
Tal. Subs: Tal for Gravesen(76m) , Xavier for Moore(88m). Att: 34,244 It was Walter's 100th Everton league game, I haven't checked but we were wondering how many times have we had with the same eleven starting the game. Anyway it was great to see Super Kev and Big Dunc were together for the 1st time and that Davy Weir and Richard Gough were back at the heart of the defence. Everton started the brighter of the two teams, but disaster struck when Boro opened the scoring with their 1st attack of the game after 11 minutes. It came from a corner when Ricard scored from 6 yards. The crowd were absolutely stunned. What reaction were we going to get? We started to put a bit of pressure on and we should have been on level terms after 25 minutes when Goughie should have scored from a Joe Max corner, but he headed over. We just seemed to be playing every ball right down the middle for Dunc and Kev and Middlesboro were dealing with everything very comfortably. We thought Big Dunc had scored when he had a header blocked on the line and somehow the ball ended up in Schwarzer's arms. The last 5 minutes were the best of the half for the Blues when we had 3 corners on the run, from one Steve Watson went just wide. Half Time 0-1 We needed a good start and thank you God we got one. Steve Watson, the Toffees best player in the 1st half, went down the right and put in a great cross for Ferguson, who challanged their moaning goalie and the ball broke loose to Gary Naysmith who headed in from 6 yards. Everton were starting to make efforts to push for another goal, but we were lacking any creative ideas. The crowd were becoming anxious and after 20 minutes our worst fears became a reality when Myhre came for a ball he had no chance of getting and Cooper headed it in from 12 yards. It was just like the howler he made on Boxing Day against Coventry. Everton had no width. Time & time again Gough, Gemmill, and Weir had the ball, but had to pump it up to Kev & Dunc, because there was nobody out wide. Walter brought on Tal. Thank Fuck. A wide man, but where did Walter put him? In the middle. The crowd couldn't believe it. Everton had to go for it. We did and we got our reward from a neat volley from sub Idan Tal. He had only been on the field for 2 minutes after replacing Thomas Gravesen when he scored his 1st goal for the club. With 10 minutes left, the Toffees went all out for the winner, but Boro held firm. You have to say with the effort and commitment shown here, especially being twice behind, we should see a steady climb up the table. And with many of the injuries clearing up we will NOT have to go through the torment of surviving on the last day. Michael Ball had another good game, but the Blue Kipper Star Man was Steve Watson. Walter says: "We were unfortunate not to win, it would have been certainly unfair to have lost. But the attitude of the players was first class, just like it has been all season. I was pleased with the way we played and with the amount of pressure we put them under." Jogger's
Snapshots | Young
Toffeemen | Sting Ray
| Sausage's Sandwiches
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, Gough, Weir, Ball, Naysmith,| Gemmill, Gravesen,| Moore, Campbell,
Ferguson.