Season 2002-03
After a debut to forget last week, Richard Wright would have been keen not to repeat the errors that allowed Spurs to take a point from Goodison Park and prompted a public dressing down by manager David Moyes.
Wright himself admitted culpability for a lapse in concentration that allowed Les Ferdinand's shot to slip under his body and into the net and also hinted that he might have done better with Matthew Etherington's opening goal as well. Television replays suggest that Wright thought the shot was going over and pulled his hand away as the ball ricocheted off the bar and in to level the scores.
So it was with great delight that the 24 year-old pulled off a stunning, one-handed save at the Stadium of Light to deny Kevin Phillips an equaliser for Sunderland after Wright himself had been adjudged to have illegally pushed Niall Quinn off the ball as he came to collect a corner.
That save preserved the Blues' advantage and paved the way for their first win of the season.
Wright's redemption was also important because of an earlier error that could so easily have gifted the Black Cats a goal just a few minutes before his penalty heroics. The former Gunner mis-judged and fumbled a Claudio Reyna free kick into the net to seemingly gift the home side an equaliser but referee Styles disallowed the goal for offiside. It was a huge let-off for the Eveton goalkeeper.
Like last week, Moyes had plenty to say about his new reruit: “He has earned his luck today and that was a fantastic save,” he explained to the Official Site.
“But that’s the way football is, one week you are down and the next week you are up. I am sure Richard was sick last week with what had happened but this week he has got right to feel pleased with himself. I have said before he’s deserved his luck. The lad works very hard at his game, he wants to get better and has told me that he won’t make the same mistakes again."
Today's win was Everton's first at Sunderland since the north-easterners moved to the Stadium of Light, having been beaten there on all three prior occasions. Kevin Campbell scored the all-important goal after 27 minutes, prodding home Tomasz Radzinski's header after another flowing move.
In the midfield engine-room, Chinese international Li Tie had another impressive game, taking a number of shots at goal, working tirelessly and showing more tidy distribution in the middle of the park alongside Thomas Gravesen and Mark Pembridge. As against Tottenham, the 24 year-old was substituted mid-way through the second half, this time in favour of Tobias Linderoth. Niclas Alexandersson made way for Wayne Rooney at the same time and the youngster showed more evidence of his talent with some scorching runs from deep.
More on this story: Official Everton website