Match Summary

Everton started without Mark Pembridge after all, but it had nothing to do with the club-v-country nonsense; it seems he has sustained a calf injury. Gary Naysmith gets only his fifth League start of the season in his place as part of an otherwise virtually unchanged line-up that sees Stubbs and Yobo selected, with David Weir again on the bench. 

A strong-looking Blackburn side including David Thompson, David Dunn, Damien Duff, and Andy Cole, with ex-Everton defender Craig Short at the back.

Everton where under pressure from the start as Blackburn get a corner after just 15 seconds.  Wright deals with it but after another quick Blackburn attack, Carsley played in Radzinski who really had to stretch to make it count. 

The lively start from both sides continued, with Cole escaping Yobo and putting Wright under extreme pressure, but Wright was man enough to produce a superb save.  Blackburn continued to dominate, with substantial possession inside the Everton half, but it's goals that count and Everton were set to draw first blood.

Then a lovely finish by Kevin Campbell following a long clearance from Richard Wright, with an excellent feed from Lee Carsley and Everton were in front. 

The exchanges ran from end to end for the remainder of the first half, with both teams full of running and creating dangerous chances.  A superb one-handed save from Freidel was all that saved Blackburn from further embarrassment as Campbell headed in a great shot off a corner. 

The Blackburn pressure continued into the second half, with Everton reeling from a string of corners conceded.  Steve Watson replaced Li Tie, who had been having trouble making the right impression in this one, and had received his first Premiership booking for a silly foul.

The pattern of the game continued, with relentless pressure from Blackburn, and stalwart defending by Everton, supplemented by lively moves on the break.  Time for Master Rooney?

The substitution initiative was taken by Souness, who brought on Dwight Yorke to partner Andy Cole.  It looked like a penalty decision from Graham Poll but, amazingly, he gave Johansson a yellow card for diving!  A rare moment for the Graham Poll scrapbook...

Rooney finally came on to replace Naysmith with little more than 10 minutes to go, and probably with instructions to play deep in an effort to try to ease the pressure on Everton's beleaguered defence.  His first dribble needed three Blackburn defenders to dispossess him!

Rooney's injection into the game simply raised the stakes even higher in this pulsating affair, with the youngster taunting his elders mercilessly.  But Blackburn responded in kind, cranking the handle another few notches in their desperation to score.

Stoppage time saw even more heart-stopping assaults on the Everton goal, but Rooney started a great move that saw another superb save from Freidel.

And at the other end, Wright saved Everton with another amazing save just 5 seconds before the end.  An absolutely fabulous win!  FIVE ON THE TROT!!!!!!!