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Fantastic Gibson strike seals win

Everton 1 - 0 Manchester City

David Moyes opted for experience over natural position this evening by naming Tony Hibbert as starting centre half alongside John Heitinga. Starting XI: Howard; Neville, Hibbert, Heitinga, Baines; Gibson, Fellaini, Drenthe, Donovan; Cahill; Stracqualursi. Subs: Mucha, Duffy, Forshaw, Gueye, Barkley, Baxter, Vellios. New signing Nikica Jelavic still not confirmed before the game.

Match Summary

Heitinga gave away a poor free-kick early on but nothing came of it as the game continued with generally scrappy play and poor passes from both sides until Everton won their first corner, Stracqualursi thought his header had scored but Lescott headed it off the line... just! At the other end, Richards got in on Howard and City won their first corner.

City were pushing Everton back from the 5th minute, with Hibbert heading away well, and Everton breaking with better shape and joined-up passing, letting Stracq make another header on target. But Everton were torn asunder by a simple move, Milner in acres of space down the right, a driven cross that Clichy drove hopelessly high and wide.

Everton were resorting to hoofball from defence but fared better when they played it on the ground, although Drenthe did himself no favours feigning a foul on an over-elaborate dummy dodge around Kompany.

Another corner in the 18th minute that Donovan played too short to the near post. Baines caused gasps when he was easily dispossessed by Nasri but the defensive shape was good and all they got was a corner that Howard caught easily.

Another incisive City attack required a header behind by Neville and Everton broke well form the corner only for Drenthe to rush his free-kick and concede possession shockingly that allowed Aguero to conjour a shot that went wide. Drenthe was becoming his own worst enemy, far too wound up to be of much use at all as he lost the ball with an unforced miskick.

Everton finally gained some possession but were hopelessy stymied and allowed themselves to be forced back to Howard. Cahill was then somehwt luckily picked up a free-kick for a 50-50 challenge by Barry. Donovan took the kick but it was too slow and low. However, on the follow-up, Stracqualursi put off Hart, and set up Donovan for a snapshot well over.

The atmosphere was hotting up nicely with some determined attacking by Everton, and a superb free-kick from Baines careened off Fellaini for a corner. A very neat piece of play followed, Baines persistence led to a cross in to Stracq, his center a set-up for Fellaini who should at least have hit the target.

At the other end, a fantastic curling drive from Nasri deserved a goal but it smashed off the underside of the bar near the angle and bounced down barely a foot in front of the line, where Aguero in the follow-up had his shot incredibly saved by a point-blank reaction from Howard but he was offside. Breathless stuff from both sides.

Then an astounding protest stopped the game on 41 minutes. While play was up the Gwladys Streeet end, an Everton fan sneaked on and secured himself to the Man City net. A group of stewards and cops remonstrated with him and took 3 minutes to break him free.

During half-time, the signing of Nikica Jelavic was confirmed with the ex-Rangers player paraded along with his new Royal Blue shirt.

City mounted some penetrating attacks after the break, but seemed to be intent on spurning chances from which you might usually expect them to score. Everton were still in the game, but not convinced they really could hold off the increasingly insistent threat from the visitors, with some simply horrible, unforgivably bad passing when the Blues had possession.

Fellaini made a vital interception on Aguerro that could so easily have been a penalty but wasn't. On an increasingly rare Everton foray, Lescott was booked for his foul on Stracqualkursi but Donovan made a poor fist of the free-kick. However, right on the hour, Drenthe battled forward again with the ball, played it out to Baines, whose deflected cross to Donovan was set up perfectly for Gibson to produce a fabulous slightly deflected strike that would shake any itinerant protesters off the Gwladys Street net. A fantastic strike to put the Blues in front.

Mancini reacted by switching out some of his expensive stars, including Lescott, to a crescendo of boos from the Goodison faithful. Gibson was set up for another strike but it appeared to blocked for a corner. Everton, though, now seemed to have more belief, and looked to play the ball forward with more spirit and determination, Stracqualursi doing particularly well and the ball dropping to Gibson for his third first-time volley.

City fans screamed for a penalty when the ball smashed into Neville's arm but Everton broke with Donovan and Stracqualursi threatening to exchange passes but just failing. An intense barrage of City pressure followed, with plenty of last-ditch defending by a Blues defence rocking visibly on the back foot. Drenthe got the yellow card his clumsy challenges deserved and he was withdrawn, to be replaced by Jose Baxter on 78 mins.

Everton's defence had been effectively solid, relying again and again on blocks and interceptions, with Hibbert and Heitinga putting in a great shift. Neville on a break crossed well to Baxter but he did very poorly, controlling the ball but drilling it into Clichy.

At the other end, Everton continued to frustrate every City attack but it was increasingly nervy stuff, with the need for cool and mature heads... so on came Vellios for Stracqualursi, who had put in an excellent shift full of spirit and determination, if severely lacking in quality.

Johnson made a tremendous run into the Everton area, but Baines blocked him superbly. it was breath-taking stuff, with four minutes of extra time coming from somewhere, Mancini looking lost and frustrated at the inability of his far superior moneybag players to lord it over their poverty-stricken hosts.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere among the Everton fans built with increasing expectation that he Blues had secured an excellent win against the City money-machine — only their third loss as they thought they were ploughing relentlessly towards the Premier League title. A fantastic result for the Blues, and the best, most entertaining game in ages and ages.

Quotes or other material sourced from ToffeeWeb Match Report Page

• Full match report
• Match summary and post-match discussion

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