Punching the gift horse in the mouth

It was all set up. Liverpool, stripped of their first choice central defence and hampered further by the loss of Igor Biscan after just 10 minutes; Chelsea losing at Aston Villa — the slip-up we'd been praying for — and Newcastle being held by Fulham. All Everton had to do was raise their game for the one fixture on the calendar for which they never need any extra motivation.

Instead, after a season full of heroics and determination, David Moyes's side put in a poor performance by the established standards of Merseyside derbies and paid the price

The huge dent in local pride delivered by a third successive home derby defeat aside, Chelsea's defeat at Villa Park is the most heart-sickening part of the whole affair. Any points gained by Everton would have seen them gain ground on the Londoners and perfectly set up Monday's clash at Stamford Bridge.

By all accounts, the Blues started this game in fine fashion, with Wayne Rooney at the heart of the early running. Kevin Campbell had a header cleared off the line when he might have done better and Gary Naysmith saw a shot saved well by Dudek after 20 minutes as Moyes's team threatened.

However, it was at this point that they lost their direction and momentum and the Reds took control. Within 10 minutes they were ahead. Poor defending allowed Michael Owen to steal in and fire past Richard Wright to make it 1-0 and upset the Goodison bandwagon.

Everton's response was non-existent and Liverpool continued to carry the greater threat until referee Paul Durkin went card mad and took his tally to seven yellow cards by half time. For Everton, Thomas Gravesen, Gary Naysmith, Alan Stubbs and David Weir were all booked by the man in the middle. Two of those players wouldn't see the end of 90 minutes.

The trademark Everton acceleration through the gears after the interval didnt materialise immediately and the game went through eight scrappy minutes until Naysmith knocked the ball past Jamie Carragher in the area and the Liverpool defender clattered into the Scot earning the home side a precious penalty. David Unsworth did what he does best, smashing the ball into the roof of the net to level the scores.

However, while things were now set up prefectly for Everton to go on and win the game, it was Liverpool who scored next. Danny Murphy picked the ball up 25 yards out and crashed a spectacular shot past Wright to make it 2-1 and effectively break the back of Everton's resistance.

Duncan Ferguson was thrown into the fray with just over 20 minutes to go, with Steve Watson making way, but Everton's best moments were already behind them. Few chances were created and the remainder of the script was dominated by referee Durkin who flashed second yellow cards to David Weir (81') and Gary Naysmith (89'). What was supposed to have been the most exciting game of the year petered out to a crushingly disappointing finale.

Speculation will no doubt dwell on whether Everton's players, after putting in so much sweat and toil into remaining in the top six against the odds for so long, are a spent force, their valiant players exhausted by their efforts since August. And with another crucial fixture at Stamford Bridge looming in 48 hours, all eyes will be on how the team responds as they seek to resurrect their fast-fading Champions League hopes.

Certainly Moyes will need to make some changes and if he has any sense he will remove Thomas Gravesen from the equation altogether and try something new in a midfield which is now being badly shown up as the weak link it patently is. He doesn't have many choices, but the chances of European qualification under threat, the most crucial phase of the season is now upon him.

We've come too far to let it all slip away now.

Lyndon Lloyd

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