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Everton topple Fulham in dramatic finale

Fulham 1 - 3 Everton

David Moyes finally broke faith with his out-of-form favourites Cahill, Coleman and Saha, who were dropped to he bench for the visit to Fulham, with Neville restored to the Captaincy, and Drenthe and Vellios both starting.

Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Baines, Jagielka, Distin, Drenthe, Neville, Osman, Fellaini, Rodwell, Vellios Subs: Mucha, Heitinga, Bilayletdinov, Stracqualursi, Saha, Coleman, Cahill.

And as if to underline the final wisdom of the reluctant manager, Drenthe fired in a fabulous goal inside just the third minute of the game, after Murphy was caught in possession and Everton surged forward, the powerful winger drove a fearsome left-foot curler just inside the post off a loose ball laid back by Rodwell.

Rodwell had a glorious chance for a second after 10 minutes, his header from a baines cross going just wide as Fulham rocked on their heels, Everton totally dominating. drenthe was very lively and tried his luck again, cutting in and firing on Schwarzer who saved thanks to a deflection.

Another good move was worthy of a goal with a great cross from Baines for Vellios to finish but he headed over when he really should have buried it.

But Fulham were showing signs of recovering finally from the early shock, Murphy beating Howard, hitting the post with a stinging shot that thnn bounced off Howard's body and out. Howard than had to be alert to tip over a header from Hangeland off a long throw. Then ref Probert penalized Neville for a sliding tackle that missed Dembele completely but the wall did it's job.

By the break, Everton were living a little dangerously, letting Fulham penetrate a little too easily, and when Rodwell did get hold of the ball and advanced with purpose from his own half, he had no support from his fellow Blues and ended up in a cul-de-sac.

Distin went in the ref's little book fro taking out Johnson, with Vellios, who had struggled to have much impact in the lone striker role, was withdrawn after just 5 mins of the second half, for Saha to come on. Johnson was booked soon after for a foul on Jagielka.

There was lots of very sloppy football from both sides as neither seemed able to get a grip. It was the hour-mark before Rodwell had a half-hearted poke that was drilled wide. Ruiz came on for Captain Danny Murphy. And the change did the trick for Fulham, who punished a lack-lustre second-half Everton performance when Ruiz very cleverly clipped the ball into the back of the goal over a stunned Tim Howard.

Everton had relied a little too much on the early goal and now had to step it up if they were to recover the lead. They won a handsome free-kick when Sidwell took out Drenthe and earned a booking. From an excellent position, Baines curled it over as David Moyes pondered the puzzle and finally Coleman and Cahill replaced Neville and the particularly dreadful Osman. So... back to the tried and trusted to rescue the game with just 15 minutes left.

Everton had a better spell, Cahill being dragged down by Hangeland for a clear penalty but nothing given. Then Louis Saha turned and fired but was denied by Schwarzer as Hangeland again took him out.

At the other end Ruiz came so close to a winning goal when fulham finally got something beyond the Everton back line but Howard just managed to keep it out. As the minutes ticked away, both sides decided they could win the game, and it looked like it would be Fulham when Zamora burst forward off a superb ball from Johnson, and incredibly fired round an almost open goal as Howard.

And at the other end, it was Saha who powered the ball home with an exquistie piece of control and determination. Then, an excellent finish by Rodwell underlined the severity of Zamora's horrendous miss, and gave Everton a very nice win by a wonderful two-goal margin.

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• Full match report
• Match summary

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