Match Summary
David Moyes chose to replace McFadden with Rooney, returning from his two-match suspension, leaving Faddy to cool his heels on the bench; no sign of David Weir.
Everton started pretty flatly, despite the lessons of Good Friday, allowing Leeds to dictate the pace of the game early on. But a great move by Everton saw Radzinski get past the defence and run in on the goal, although it was well stopped by Robinson.
Duberry then tackled Rooney and Gravesen. Yobo then got a chance but Duberry blocked it away for another Everton corner. The ball came out to Watson, who slipped a perfect ball in and Wayne Rooney popped up from 20 yds to score the opener.
Caldwell then went in the book after cutting down Radzinski who was trying to outwit him: last man? Could have been a red...
Gravesen then delivered a beautiful ball in, Radzinski hit the post, and Rooney was well blocked on the follow-up to prevent a certain second goal as Everton appeared to be taking a stanglehold of this one, with Gravesen running the show in the Everton midfield.
Linderoth gave away a free-kick that Smith fired just ovr, giving Martyn a fright as Leeds started to recover a little. Martyn then made an incredible save after a dreadful mistake that gave the ball to Milner. Milner curled the ball over him toward the net but, scampering back and stretching desperately, somehow clawed it away.
Then a floated free-kick from Pennant gave Everton another scare but Viduka could not convert. Martyn then had to save twice in quick succession from Smith — one of them world-class again, as Everton found themselves unable to hold the ball. Yobo then got flattened by Viduka in a desperate rearguard challenge to prevent the Aussie from scoring. But Everton held out to the break.
After the break, Martyn was performing miracles again, denying Viduka a certain equalizer. But Milner was there again to finally score the equalizer, pulling the ball onto his left foot in acres of space and fire home from 20 yards. The impetus was now totally with Leeds who came at Everton in waves.
Moyes, who must have been maddened by giving away that goal, expressed his annoyance with a double midfield substitution. It seemed to have the desired effect, blunting the dominance with which Leeds had started the second half.
Nyarko was then on the end of a decent biss of passing and sent a screamer just over the bar from 40 yards! At least a sign of intent against the one-way traffic... Gravesen(— 'If the game had been 15 minutes long, he'd have been man of the match' — Radio 5 Live), had become a liability; Moyes saw this and decided to bring Carsley on instead: a final play of the dice?
Everton kept giving away free-kicks and living very dangerously as time seeped away... Nyarko getting booked for his trouble.
Leeds battled and battled... but Everton held out for a vital result; it could have been disastrous if we had lost this one. Phew!!! We climb back up to 13th...
Leeds 0-1 Everton
2003-04 Match Reports Index
Match Preview
Having laid to rest a few ghosts on Good Friday with a magnificent performance against Spurs, Everton travel to Elland Road for an absolutely massive game against Leeds, who lie in the releagtion zone just six points below the Blues. With the fans hoping that another unwanted tendency of the Blues in recent history has also been banished — namely the team's propensity to follow a great win with a month of mediocrity, a result is absolutely vital. A loss would leave Everton with a clutch of four teams sitting just 3 points below them, and that horrible sucking sound...
The 3-1 win over David Pleat's sorry charges was the best display since we mauled Leeds United 4-0 at Goodison back in September and David Moyes takes his team across the Pennines looking to complete the double over the Yorkshiremen for a second successive season (Everton having gone half a century without recording that feat until last season).
The burden of suspensions is eased with both Wayne Rooney and David Weir now available, but will Moyes greet that as good news seeing as it presents the temptation to mess with a winning line-up?
James McFadden may have been as impressive and raw as many fans had been predicting against Tottenham but the manager has shown a penchant for the conservative on the road this season. While some may feel that Leeds' recent revival needs to be met with the same pacey and agile attacking due that ripped Spurs apart on Friday, Moyes may well put Rooney back into the starting line-up and use McFadden as a substitute.
At the back, while Unsworth's goalscoring exploits last time out could be enough for him to retain his starting berth, there is little doubt that Weir is the better central defender — in my opinion the best partner for Joseph Yobo out of all the contenders for that spot. Alan Stubbs is still struggling to be fit with a groin problem.
In the midfield, expect the Blues to remain unchanged following their impressive outing against Spurs while, up front, Kevin Campbell is likely to remain unavailable with a back strain and Francis Jeffers' has cooked his goose and will remain in footballing limbo until the summer.
The home side for this Tuesday evening match-up welcome Seth Johnson back after injury but Didier Domi is unlikely to be fit in time.
Victory at Leeds would remove the prospect of relegation completely for Everton this season, mathematical miracles aside, and it would keep us in the hunt for a top-half finish as we slowly close the gap between us and the clutch of clubs in the middle order all playing "ducks and drakes" as the season rumbles down the final stretch.
Lyndon Lloyd
Matchday Stats
This will be the 115th meeting between Everton and Leeds United in all competitions, and the 57th at Elland Road. This match will be the 24th meeting in the Premier League.
Everton's full record against Leeds United is:
P
W
D
L
F
A
Premier League
23
7
9
28
Division One
74
18
38
94
117
Division Two
6
3
1
2
FA Cup
4
10
League Cup
0
8
Zenith Data Cup
TOTALS:
114
33
31
50
149
165
Our record at Elland Road against Leeds is:
11
16
37
27
35
78
56
5
14
52
109
The last match between the two sides was earlier this season on 28 September when a Steve Watson hat-trick and a Duncan Ferguson goal secured a 4-0 rout of the Elland Road club. The last match between the sides at Leeds was on 3 November 2002 when a Wayne Rooney strike secured Everton's first league victory at Elland Road for over 51 years.
Everton's biggest victory at Leeds is shared between a 3-1 victory on 23 October 1926 and 2-0 on 4 January 1985 in a live FA Cup match. Leeds's biggest victory at home to Everton was 5-1 on 18 September 1956.
The most common victory for Everton is 2-1, which has happened just twice in Everton's paltry 5 wins at Elland Road. Leeds's most common victory is 1-0, which has happened ten times in their 37 victories at home. The most common draw between the sides is 1-1, which has happened six times out of the 14 draws in total.
Everton's record for 13 April is:
21
30
22
36
This will be the first meeting between the two sides on this date. The only other Premier League match played on this date was in 2002 when Everton drew 2-2 with Leicester City at Goodison Park. It was on this day 19 years ago in 1985 that Everton beat Luton Town in the FA Cup Semi-final to continue their treble-aspirations. And it was 27 years ago today that a late Brian Little goal secured a 3-2 win for Aston Villa in the League Cup Final Second Replay.
Tommy Clinton was born on this day in 1926. Tommy made 80 appearances for Everton (73 League and 7 FA Cup appearances) whilst scoring 5 goals (4 League and 1 FA Cup), but it's probably a goal he didn't score that he is most famous for. In the 1953 competition, whilst Everton were still in the Second Division, they were drawn against Bolton in the Semi-finals. The match at Maine Road was a classic as Bolton took a 4-0 lead before Tommy missed a penalty at the end of the first half. In the second half Everton made a great comeback and ended up losing 4-3. That was the year of the Matthews Final between Bolton and Blackpool.
Tommy was signed from Dundalk and the story goes that Tommy came over for trials and he signed his first contract at Lime Street station whilst leaning out of his train window on his way back home whilst the then secretary, Theo Kelly, was running down the platform holding the paper so Tommy could sign. He was eventually sold to Blackburn Rovers.
John Cameron was born on this day in 1872. John made 48 appearances for Everton (42 league and 6 FA Cup appearances) and scored 14 goals (12 league and 2 FA Cup), after being signed from Queen's Park. He was eventually sold to Tottenham Hotspur.
William Ralph Dean appeared for England on this day in 1929 when they lost 1-0 to Scotland.
Milestone's that can be reached in this game:
Steve Flanagan
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