Leeds (h)

Everton 2, Leeds 0. Tue. 26th March 2002

@ The AutoQuest Stadium, Widnes. Att: 688.

Chad Scores His Eighth of the Season

Everton: Gerrard, Cleland, Pilkington, Valentine, Clarke, Southern, Watson, Tal, Osman, Chadwick, McLeod.

Bench: O’Hanlon, Eaton for Watson (59m), Curran.

Scorers: Chadwick (15m), Southern (78m)

Leeds: Milosevic, Farren, Newey, Bowyer, Richardson, Kilgallon, Burns, Johnson Seth, Folan, Johnson Simon, Wilcox.

Everton & their fans had one eye on tomorrow's Youth Semi-final. This was reflected in the team, which had no youngsters in the side, & the crowd, which was lower than usual. Everton started well with Nic Chadwick again getting into good positions. He had a chance to put us infront, but scuffed his shot wide. He made no mistake on 15 minutes when he stabbed home from close range, after a bit of pin ball in the Leeds goalmouth. This was his 8th goal in 12 games. We keep on saying it. Get him in the 1st team. The only real test Gerrard had was a fierce drive, which he saved well. Everton were worthy leaders at the break. Steve Watson had had a decent half, but looked a little ring rusty.

Half-time: Everton 1, Leeds 0.

The second half was just a little more of the same. Everton pressed forward, with Chadwick bringing the best out of Milosevic. We nearly got a second, when Idan Tal crossed from the right, & Keith Southern rose to head against the bar. The only thing Leeds were good at were getting booked. It was no surprise to see Bowyer, Wilcox, & Seth Johnson amongst those booked. Wato was replaced by Adam Eaton on the hour. He looked knackered. Lets hope that he was just tired & not injured. We scored our second when Southern got the goal he deserved with a good header from a Ryan Valentine cross. Players to do well were Keith Southern, Nick Chadwick, & George Pilkington.

What do you think? E-mail Blue Kipper