Match Highlights

A crowd of 8,346 tonight saw Everton take on the Mexican Champions Pachuca.  It was a good workout with lots of good action.  The best bits:

• 3'    1-0 McFadden  Hibbert was in the thick of the action from the edge of the area put McFadden in the box right side, a cross shot across the front of goal, found its way in the bottom left hand corner, a bright start.
• 10'    McFadden with a shot 30 yards out just out side of the D, just off target.
• 11'     McFadden runs at the heart of the defence, gets into the box, shoots, HANDBALL!
• 11'     2-0 Gravesen  From the penalty spot, puts the keeper the wrong way, ball ends up in the bottom right hand corner.
• 22'     2-1 Cacho  Cross from the right unmarked in the box free header.
• 23'     McFadden (must be contender for the man of the match) 25 yards out another shot just past the right post.
• 42'     Campbell gets in on the action, from inside the area latches on to a cross from the right, on target but saved by the keeper.
• 44'     2-2 Martinez  Danced though the heart of the Everton defence, no blue shirt able to get near him, puts the ball in the right hand corner.

Half Time: Everton 2 - 2 Pachuca

• 45'     On  Clarke  Off Hibbert
• 53'     McFadden from 18 yards out shot just over the bar.
• 54'     Carsley from the right finds McFadden inside the area his shot forces another save.
• 57'   3-2  Campbell  Gravesen finds Campbell with a cross from the right, standing  on the penalty spot and a free header could not fail to miss.
• 62'     McFadden & Campbell with a nice one two, Campbell with the final shot just floated over the bar.
• 63'   4-2 Kilbane  McFadden with a corner, Kilbane waiting on the edge of the  six yard box, heads down and in to the goal.
• 69'    On Bent  Off  Naysmith
• 78'    On Chadwick    Off Campbell
• 79'   Gravesen free kick left side of the box 30 yards out, hits the top of the bar.
• 83'   5-2  Chadwick  Osman with a bit of skill, took on the defence Chadwick waiting on the edge of the area, picks up the ball finishes well.

Steve Milne

Match Report

Everton kicked off their Copa de Tejas campaign with a winning start, knocking off Pachuca of Mexico 5-2.  Everton were led by the impressive performance of James McFadden up front and Thomas Gravesen in midfield.  Joseph Yobo marshalled the back line well and Nigel Martyn rose o the challenge when tested.

Everton started off the match with a goal in the third minute as McFadden received a pass from Lee Carsley in the box and tucked it in past Miguel Angel Calero.  The goal would be a warning to the Pachuca players of McFadden's ability as he ran at the Pachuca players all day.  Everton went up two nil in the thirteenth minute as Leon Osman received a ball from McFadden and took a shot that came off a Pachuca defenders hand.  The referee did not hesitate to point to the spot and Gravesen stepped up to knock in the penalty.

Then Pachuca began playing the ball around and linking up with neat one-two’s and nine minutes later, Juan Carlos Cacho knocked in a low cross from the right wing to Martyn's left. Yobo was quite tidy at the back, intercepting Pachuca passes and only putting his foot wrong one or two times.  Leon Osman looked adequate on the right flank and Kilbane and Gravesen were always involved but the same could not be said for Carsley. 

Kevin Campbell was quite inconspicuous in the first half and it showed as his strike partner McFadden was all over the pitch terrorizing Pachuca defenders.  Pachuca equalised just before half-time as OctavioValdez Martinez, the right winger, slashed through the heart of Everton’s defense, losing Alan Stubbs and Gravesen in the process and his low shot went past Martyns right.

Everton made one substitution upon the start of the second half, Peter Clarke coming in for Tony Hibbert. Campbell then made his mark on the game eleven minutes after the restart with a fine header off a Gravesen center to give Everton a 3-2 lead.  Soon after, Kilbane headed in a McFadden shot that was tipped by the keeper for the 4-2 lead.  Pachuca were then out of it after that.  Marcus Bent and Nick Chadwick got into the action on the hour mark for Gary Naysmith and Kevin Campbell respectively.

Gravesen with eleven minutes to go in the match produced the finest set piece all game as his wickedly struck free-kick from the top of the box, loaded with pace and swerve hit the crossbar and bounced off with the Pachuca keeper looking on as a spectator.  Everton then finished off the game as Osman and Bent played a one-two at the top of the box, Bent’s return was behind Osman but came nicely to Chadwick who tucked it in to give Everton the 5-2 lead.  Pachuca then applied some attacking pressure but Martyn was up to task and the game ended 5-2 to the Toffees.

Fran Coop

Live Commentary Report

The first live audio commentary for the 2004/5 season came from the Reliant Stadium and while we Evertonians are experiencing one of the most demoralising close-seasons in living memory (- although the summer of 2001 wasn’t that great either with Smith leading us nowhere and both Jeffers and Ball leaving), which made the previous three pre-season friendlies extremely low-key affairs to me against the background of a boardroom power-struggle and the ongoing Wayne Rooney talks and rumours, I jumped at the chance to finally be able to concentrate on matters on the pitch again.

Yes, the 8.30pm kick-off time in Houston, Texas meant 2.30am(!) in The Netherlands but, despite having to be at work at 6 this morning, I’d been waiting since that horrible afternoon at The City Of Manchester Stadium back in May for my next ‘EFC match-experience’ and nothing was going to stop me now. Not even the look on my wife’s face when I told her about my plans, ‘cause in the end this is what following The Toffees is all about for me- apart from being able to go to about 4 or 5 games a season, I’m sat behind my computer with a few beers on the table listening to RadioEverton for all the other games.

So, after just 2 hours of sleep the alarm went off at 2.30am. For a minute I thought ‘screw it’ but soon enough I was putting the kettle on, tuned in to the match commentary and before I knew it I was able to ‘celebrate’ a few Everton goals! Due to some technical problems the commentary only started after James McFadden had already put us into an early lead on 3 minutes, but Thomas Gravesen added number two on 12 minutes from the penalty spot. No ‘dancing around the living room’- it was just a meaningless pre-season friendly after all, but after not knowing whether to curse Bill Kenwright or to frown at Paul Gregg’s media-campaign the last few weeks I made sure I enjoyed every single one of our goals last night.

Naturally, Pachuca got two goals back before half-time but I couldn’t mind too much. This was a new experience to me, getting up in the middle of the night to follow Everton. Unlike, I’m sure, many other exiled Bluenoses all over the world who are used to these mad hours. Already, we had scored twice which sort of justified my midnight ‘escapade’ because, having supported Everton for 20 years now, I was fully prepared for us to have been played off the park by The Mexicans or an uneventful 0-0 draw. As with everything else concerning Everton FC though, I would have taken that on the chin and not hesitate setting the alarm once more if we are ever going to play in the middle of night again.

After the break is seemed to be all too easy for David Moyes’ team. Goals from Kevin Campbell, Kevin Kilbane and Nick Chadwick secured a very welcome 5-2 win and I had just about 30 minutes left to catch some before having to go to work. Needless to say I am dead tired right now and won’t have much of a Friday night but- honestly, it’s all worth it.

Rob van Dijk