Column

Memory Lane – Match 31

Games against Leicester City, Oldham and Newcastle

Forty Years Ago – 1973-74: Match 31

Filbert Street was the destination for Billy Bingham’s Everton as they set about trying to improve their record away from Goodison Park, with the points they had amassed on their travels so far insufficient to propel the team into a European qualification berth.

Leicester City on their own patch were a pretty good side and it would be interesting for the supporters to see how this match panned out. The match with Leicester City had originally been scheduled for Wednesday 6 February but the two clubs had agreed to play the fixture this particular weekend.

The Leicester City matchday magazine focussed upon the topical issues of TV Coverage and the so-called 'professional' foul. Firstly the article admitted that the pre-match TV magazine programmes such as On The Ball and Football Focus had done a pretty good job of advertising the game of football and could potentially tempt non-match goers into their local grounds; however, there had been concerns that the rise of the celebrity football pundit and slow-motion action replays and various other novelty items used in the highlights packages may have prevented some people from leaving their armchairs and visiting their local side's stadium – to stay in the comfortable setting of their living rooms. Certainly the likes of Bob Lord, the Chairman of Burnley, had banned both ITV and BBC from filming at Turf Moor for their upcoming FA Cup tie, whilst QPR had already prevented the cameras from filming their recent match with Coventry in the FA Cup.

Filbert Street had been a difficult place to visit over the years and Everton had, like most top-flight clubs, suffered some poor results but conversely the venue had seen some excellent performances and results for the Toffees over the years. Everton had only faced Leicester City in the FA Cup on two occasions with the most recent being in 1968 and the first coming in 1933. On both occasions, Everton triumphed at Filbert Street and went on to play in the Cup Final at Wembley. The first meeting took place on Saturday 14 January 1933 in a Third Round tie. Although J Campbell had scored twice for the hosts, goals from Jimmy Dunn, Dixie Dean and Jimmy Stein ensured that Everton made it through to the Fourth Round in front of 20,000 spectators.
Everton: Sagar; Cook, Cresswell; Britton, White, Thomson; Geldard, Dunn, Dean, Johnson, Stein.

Thirty-five years, later Everton travelled to Filbert Street, for an FA Cup Quarterfinal tie in confident mood as they had won (0-2) their previous league encounter at the ground earlier in the season thanks to the two goals scored by Alan Ball.
Everton: West; Wright, Brown; Kendall, Labone (Bennett), Harvey; Ball, Hunt, Young, Hurst, Morrissey.

For the Quarter-Final match, Ray Wilson, Roger Kenyon, Jimmy Husband and Joe Royle had taken part whilst Sandy Brown, Colin Harvey and Ernie Hunt had not. Alex Young had been left on the bench. Jimmy Husband scored twice for the Toffees in the 33rd and 75th minutes and Howard Kendall (67’) had also been on the scoresheet to help the Blues’ through to the Semi-Final of the competition. David Nish had scored the consolation goal for Leicester City in front of a bumper crowd (43,519).
Everton: West; Wright, Wilson; Kendall, Labone, Kenyon; Husband (Young), Ball, Royle, Hurst, Morrissey.

The Match: For those Evertonians who had travelled to Filbert Street to watch the Toffees, they could proudly claim that they had been there when Bob Latchford had opened his Everton FC account. But Latchford’s first goal for the Goodison Park outfit had unfortunately not been enough to gain the points for his team and those supporters as Leicester City had already built up a two-goal lead.

Frank Worthington (43’) had given the Foxes a half-time lead and Steve Earle (66’) doubled their tally shortly before Bob Latchford (72’) scored for the Blues. Everton’s travel sickness continued in 1974 and with only a point to show from their five games away from Goodison Park since the start of the year, it would be imperative that Billy Bingham found a solution if Everton were to retain any hopes of playing in Europe the following season.

1973-74 — First Division; Saturday, 2 March 1974
Leicester City @ Filbert Street, Score: 2-1 (Latchford) Attendance: 21,286
Everton: Lawson; Darracott, McLaughlin, Bernard, Kenyon; Hurst, Harvey, Buckley; Latchford, Jones, Telfer (Lyons).

Thirty Years Ago — 1983-84: Match 31

The last home game prior to the historical meeting with Liverpool at Wembley saw Leicester City arrive at Goodison Park; their young strikers Alan Smith and Gary Lineker were already being touted for International recognition and perhaps moves to more glamorous environs.

Most of the match-day magazine had been devoted to the upcoming League Cup Final encounter with Liverpool, and of Everton’s achievement of securing a place in the FA Cup Semi-Final. Depending on which team won the replay between Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday at the Dell, the venue for the Semi-Final would be either Old Trafford if the Owls were successful or Highbury if it was the Saints.

Merchandise was on offer for the upcoming Wembley showdown including a record of the club’s new song, Spirit of the Blues, backed on the reverse side with Forever Everton available at the club shop for the princely sum of £1.40p.

Everton’s Reserves hadn’t yet given up on securing the Central League title despite falling behind Liverpool in recent weeks. Everton entertained Blackburn on Tuesday 6 March 1984 as Schoolboy Goalkeeper Stephen Hall made his Central League debut. Stuart Rimmer broke the deadlock in the early minutes of the second-half and increased the Blues' lead with a converted penalty. Rob Wakenshaw made it three before Stuart Rimmer completed his hat-trick. Blackburn prevented Stephen Hall from keeping a clean sheet on his debut, but it had been a successful night for the 17-year-old and his colleagues as the reserves ran out winners by four goals to one. Everton Reserves: Hall; Hughes, Higgins, Bateman, Macowat; Steven, King, Bishop, Morrissey; Wakenshaw, Rimmer S.

Three days after that victory over Blackburn, the Reserves took on Sunderland on home soil the night prior to Everton first-team’s important trip to Notts County. Due to several injuries and niggles to the first team squad, Everton’s reserve team coach Graham Smith said that the reserve team had probably changed at least half-a-dozen times in an hour, before he was able to confirm the line-up at the last possible moment.

Kevin Richardson, who had not played since the Milk Cup Semi-Final, had run out for the reserves and had lasted 75 minutes before being taken off as a precaution. As if the disruption caused by Everton’s first team requirements hadn’t been enough to contend with, Sunderland had their newly appointed manager Len Ashurst running the rule over his reserves and, for players like Colin West, Rob Hindmarch, Paul Bracewell and Bryan ‘Pop’ Robson, it was an opportunity to impress their new boss. Ian Marshall – who had replaced Kevin Richardson – eventually broke the stalemate and earned the Blues a precious win in their pursuit of Liverpool.
Everton Reserves: Arnold; Oldroyd, Higgins, Bateman, Macowat; Morrissey, Bishop, Richardson (Marshall), Wakenshaw; Rimmer S, Johnson.

Kevin Richardson’s run-out must have had the desired effect as he helped the Toffees to earn their place in the FA Cup Semi-Final by scoring the first goal in their victory at Notts County.

The previous occasion that Leicester City had travelled to Goodison Park had been in August 1980 when a goal from Peter Eastoe had secured the points for the hosts in front of 23,337 supporters.
Everton: McDonagh; Gidman, Ratcliffe, Wright, Lyons; Stanley, McMahon, Eastoe; Latchford, Hartford, McBride.

Everton had enjoyed some fine victories over Leicester City at Goodison Park down the years and a couple of them were very heavy defeats for the visitors. In November 1931, William Ralph Dean and his teammates had run riot as Everton scored nine times against the Foxes and added two more valuable points in their quest for the First Division title.

Dixie Dean (6’) had opened the scoring and Tommy White (10’) added another to double the Toffees advantage before Tommy Johnson (17’) made it three without reply. Dean (29’) put the blues four goals up before Leicester’s E Hine (43’) pulled a goal back shortly before half-time as Everton went into the break with a 4-1 lead.

Tommy Johnson (46’) scored his second goal at the start of the second-half and Tommy White (51’) also scored his second goal and Everton’s sixth five minutes later. Dixie Dean (56’) completed his hat-trick and added his fourth goal (78’) of the game in the latter stages. L Barry had pulled a goal back for Leicester City in between Dean’s strikes but Archie Clark (83’) added a ninth goal for Everton as the Blues overwhelmed the Foxes and won by 9-2 sending over 33,000 fans home more than satisfied with the afternoon’s entertainment.
Everton: Sagar; Williams, Cresswell; Clark, Gee, Thomson; Critchley, White, Dean, Johnson, Stein.

On St Andrews Day 1968 another famous Everton centre-forward Joe Royle (17’) opened the scoring at Goodison Park against Leicester City. Joe Royle (60’) scored his second goal on the hour and completed his hat-trick less than ten minutes later. Alan Ball, John Hurst and Johnny Morrissey (90’ Pen) all scored to take Everton’s tally to seven with R Fern getting a consolation for the Foxes. 42,492 people witnessed the match as future England legend Peter Shilton suffered one of the worst afternoons of his long and illustrious career.
Everton: West; Wright, Brown; Kendall, Labone, Harvey; Husband, Ball, Royle, Hurst, Humphreys.

The Match: One of the heroes of the FA Cup, Kevin Richardson (30'), scored again as he gave Everton the lead, but Gary Lineker with his 16th goal of the campaign equalised for Leicester City, Howard Kendall believed that Lineker had been well offside when he had received the ball but the referee hadn’t agreed. Andy King (65’) had a golden opportunity to win all the points for the Toffees but his strike from the penalty spot had hit the post and, although the rebound had been put into the net, the referee disallowed the effort for offside, so the Blues had to settle for a point from this match. The important thing was that Everton did not suffer any further injuries to key players prior to their encounter with Liverpool the following Sunday at Wembley. Following Southampton’s demolition of Sheffield Wednesday (5-1), Everton would play the Saint’s at Highbury on Saturday 14 April in what could prove to be Everton’s sternest test of their FA cup-fighting abilities, so far in this exciting campaign.

1983-84 — First Division; Tuesday, 20 March 1984
Leicester City @ Goodison Park, Score: 1-1 (Richardson), Attendance: 15,142
Everton: Southall; Stevens, Bailey, Ratcliffe, Mountfield; Reid, Steven, Heath; Gray, King, Richardson.
Unused Sub: Irvine.

Twenty Years Ago — 1993-94: Match 31

Everton welcomed Joe Royle’s Oldham Athletic to Goodison Park for a crunch relegation encounter. Joe Royle had been the manager of Oldham since 1982 and he had taken them to the top-flight after an absence of some 80 years, their first ever cup final appearance at Wembley, and the semi-finals of the FA Cup. Oldham’s best ever league campaign had been in 1914-15 when the Lancashire club had finished runners-up to Everton in the First Division.

In the match-day magazine there was a This Is Your Life special feature as Bill Kenwright had been the subject of the TV Show in the recent past. The article stateed how the TV show had been eight months in the making as filming had started in June 1993 and players and staff had been involved in keeping the secret from Mr Kenwright. One of the surprise guests had been Dave Hickson, a boyhood hero of Bill’s, and he produced a letter which the young Kenwright had sent him in 1959, following Dave’s transfer to Liverpool. Bill had wished Dave good luck at his new club and added that he thought that Dave would look good in a red shirt.

On Saturday, 6 December 1930, Everton entertained Oldham Athletic at Goodison Park in a Second Division encounter where a crowd of 22,421 witnessed 10 goals. Everton were hoping to win promotion to the top flight but it was Oldham Athletic who drew first blood when F Worrall (3’) opened the scoring. Three minutes later, Everton were on level terms when Dixie Dean (6’) got the equaliser. F Worrall (18’) struck once more as the visitors regained the lead which they had kept up until Dean (40’) equalised to send the teams in level at the break.

F Fitton (50’) put Oldham Athletic back into the lead early in the second period, but yet again Dean (54’) equalised to make the score three-all as Dixie completed his hat-trick. William Ralph Dean (72’) then scored his fourth goal of the match as he put Everton ahead for the first time in this thrilling encounter and Ted Critchley (75’) gave the Toffees a two-goal cushion to make the score 5-3 to the Blues. C Stanton (88’) gave the Latics’ some hope of salvaging a draw but Jimmy Dunn (89’) restored Everton’s two-goal lead and Everton managed to earn two valuable points in their quest to return to the highest level of English Football.
Everton: Coggins; Lowe, Cresswell; McPherson, Griffiths, Thomson; Critchley, Dunn, Dean, Johnson, Stein.

Matches of the Past recalled another Second Division encounter with Oldham Athletic which had taken place on Saturday, 29 August 1953, at Goodison Park. Cyril Lello had been the unsung hero and he helped to recall the events of that match. Cyril had suffered a serious injury and he had missed the whole of the dreadful 1950-51 campaign which had resulted in Everton suffering relegation for only the second time in their history.

The game with Oldham at Goodison hadn’t produced a particularly good Everton performance in the opening period and it came as no surprise to the home crowd when Oldham Athletic took the lead early in the second half when Adams (52’) netted for the visitors. Cyril Lello had injured his knee during the first-half and as there were no substitutes in those days, Cyril had to remain on the pitch even if only for nuisance value. Wally Fielding had taken up Lello’s position at left-back and Cyril had moved to the right wing.

It was Wally Fielding who – three minutes after the visitors had taken the lead – had started the move which led to Everton’s equaliser as John Willie Parker (55’) poked the ball home at the second attempt. On the hour mark, John Willie Parker (60’) struck again to give the Toffees the lead; Cyril said that “Tommy Eglington centred the ball from the left and I managed to get my head to it and nodded it across goal for John Willie to head it in.” Cyril was also involved in Everton’s third goal as he scooped the ball high into the Oldham penalty area and John Willie Parker (80’) was on the end of it to head the ball into the visitors net, to complete his hat-trick and earn a valuable two points to help Everton’s promotion push in front of 45,923 mostly happy supporters.
Everton: Leyland; Clinton, Rankin; Farrell, Donovan, Lello; Buckle, Fielding, Hickson, Parker, Eglington.

Cyril also played in the return game with Oldham Athletic, played at Boundary Park on Thursday, April 29 1954, which saw Everton win promotion back to the First Division and there were very many Evertonians in the crowd of over 30,000. Cyril recalled that:

“We needed to beat Oldham 6-0 to finish as Second Division Champions…and when we went off at half-time four up we felt we could do it. Oldham had our former goalkeeper George Burnett playing for them and made him captain for the night but John Willie had beaten him after only seven minutes with a header. Tommy Jones scored a second goal in the 18th minute from near the halfway line when Burnett was put off by Dave Hickson’s challenge and allowed the ball to drop over him. Parker scored his 31st league goal of the season in the 26th minute and Dave Hickson (36’) scored the best of the night with a run half the length of the pitch past three defenders. We would have loved to have scored the other two goals and finished above Leicester but we were well pleased to have put the club back in the First Division with what was virtually the same team that took them down.”

“It was amazing to see the reaction of our manager Cliff Britton. About four of the players smoked and when we called in at a hotel in Manchester Cliff bought a packet of 20 cigarettes to be shared between them.”
Everton: O’Neill; Moore, Donovan; Farrell, Jones TE, Lello; Wainwright, Fielding, Hickson, Parker, Eglington.

Unlike the relegation campaign a few years earlier, Cyril Lello had been an ever-present in the Blues promotion season and a very important member of that successful team too.

The Match: Despite ex-Everton hero Graeme Sharp netting for the visitors shortly before half-time following Preki’s (40’) opener, Graham Stuart (61’) secured the victory and a vital there points for the Blues. Shortly following Stuart’s goal, Graeme Sharp was sent off and Oldham were reduced to ten men. Whilst this victory against Oldham hadn’t removed the threat of relegation, it had at least put Everton’s destiny back in its own hands and with eleven fixtures remaining it would still require a few more victories to ensure that the club took its place in the top-flight in the following campaign.

1993-94 — Premier League; Saturday, 5 March 1994
Oldham Athletic @ Goodison Park, Score: 2-1 (Preki, Stuart) Attendance: 18,337
Everton: Southall; Jackson, Snodin, Watson, Hinchcliffe; Radosavljevic (Ward), Stuart, Horne, Beagrie: Angell (Rideout), Cottee.
Unused Sub: Kearton.

Ten Years Ago 2003-04

High-flying Newcastle United were the opposition for Everton and it would be with a great deal of trepidation that the team and its followers would enter St James Park, due to the absence from the squad of their forwards Duncan Ferguson and Wayne Rooney as suspensions had prevented them from taking part. That would mean a return to the side of Kevin Campbell. Newcastle United were a formidable force on their home turf and they needed the points from this game with Everton if they were to qualify for European football.

Previous encounters between Newcastle United and Everton from the 96-97 campaign were recalled in the matchday magazine; the first match featured had taken place on the opening day of the season at Goodison Park. Alan Shearer, the £15m new arrival at Newcastle United, had made his debut in this game and Gary Speed, Everton’s new £3.5m transfer from Leeds was also making his debut, while the veteran goalkeeper Neville Southall made his 700th appearance for the Toffees.

The build-up to the game had naturally focused on Kevin Keegan’s new marquee signing, Alan Shearer, and to a large extent Everton’s prospects in this game and the season ahead were overshadowed by the media frenzy surrounding Alan Shearer and his new club. However, the game hadn’t gone according to script and, when Shearer’s effort had been disallowed, the Goodison crowd sensed that it would be there team who would come out on top.

Five minutes following Shearer’s disallowed effort, Duncan Ferguson earned a penalty for the home side and up stepped David Unsworth (27’); his penalty kick beat Shaka Hislop and Everton were a goal ahead. Shortly before half-time, the visitors felt aggrieved when the referee turned down their appeals for a penalty when they believed Unsworth had brought down David Ginola in the Blues' penalty area.

That decision was exacerbated for Newcastle supporters a few minutes later when Graham Stuart centred and the ball was met by Duncan Ferguson whose header found the incoming Gary Speed (40’) who put the ball into the Newcastle United net and Everton led by two goals at the break. Although the second-half had been a more even affair, Newcastle and Alan Shearer didn’t breach Everton’s defence and the Blues had made the ideal start to the new campaign. A debutant had scored but rather than the expensive striker of Newcastle it had been Everton’s boyhood fan Gary Speed who had provided the golden winning goal.
Everton: Southall; Barrett, Unsworth, Watson (Short), Hinchcliffe; Kanchelskis, Parkinson, Ebbrell, Speed; Ferguson, Stuart.
Unused subs Rideout, Limpar, Grant, Gerrard.

In the return fixture at St James Park, Gary Speed (2’) once again scored for the Toffees, this time giving his team an early lead from a smartly taken free-kick – a lead which the Toffees hung onto until that Everton nemesis Les Ferdinand (74’) equalised for the Magpies. Everton, despite losing Craig Short in the 28th minute due to an injury, had created many opportunities to extend their lead during a first-half that they had largely dominated, but the team had been both profligate and unfortunate in failing to do so.

Unfortunately for the Evertonians, Newcastle’s equaliser had opened the floodgates and Kenny Dalglish watched his new club dismantle his old rivals. Five minutes after Ferdinand’s equaliser Rob Lee (79’) volleyed Newcastle into the lead and within another four minutes Claus Thomsen fouled Asprilla in the penalty area and Alan Shearer (83’) thumped his kick high into the Everton net past a despairing Paul Gerrard. In the final minute, Rob Lee made his way into the area and hit his shot goal-ward, Paul Gerrard made the save but Rob Lee (90’) reacted the quickest and put the ball into the net to complete a night of misery for the travelling Blues supporters.
Everton: Gerrard; Barrett, Unsworth, Watson, Short (Grant) (Rideout), Phelan; Thomsen, Parkinson, Speed, Stuart, Ferguson. Unused subs Barmby, Allen, Southall.

The Match: BBC website report:

Newcastle stayed on course for the Champions League and left Everton still battling to escape the relegation zone. Craig Bellamy's solo goal put Newcastle ahead after five minutes, but Thomas Gravesen equalised quickly for Everton.

Kieron Dyer's header restored Newcastle's lead before half-time, and Alan Shearer's fine finish added a third seven minutes after the interval. Joseph Yobo pulled one back late on, but Shearer rounded off Newcastle's win with a thumping injury-time goal.

Newcastle made the perfect start as Bellamy gave them the lead after only five minutes. Shearer out-jumped Yobo to head Shay Given's clearance down towards Bellamy. The Welshman muscled his way past David Unsworth to round Nigel Martyn and slot home his ninth goal of the season. But Everton were on terms in the 12th minute when Tomasz Radzinski set up Gravesen to drill a comprehensive finish past Shay Given.

Everton had recalled veteran Kevin Campbell, who has scored five times at St James' Park, and he almost added another when he was found by Tobias Linderoth but Aaron Hughes came to Newcastle's rescue.

Newcastle were back in front after 21 minutes when Dyer finished a flowing move with his first goal in 48 Premiership games. He fed Darren Ambrose, and then received the return cross to head the ball into the ground and over the stranded Martyn.

Everton were refusing to go quietly and continued to press forward in search of another equaliser. And they were only denied a leveller by the crossbar at the start of the second half when Steve Watson flicked on Kevin Kilbane's corner and Yobo hit the bar. But Shearer calmed Newcastle's nerves after 52 minutes when he took advantage of an awful error by Yobo to draw Martyn and score his 25th goal of the season.

Everton were unlucky when Watson headed home, only to see his goal unfortunately ruled out for offside. Yobo scrambled home Everton's second with nine minutes to go, but Shearer was on target again in the dying seconds to confirm the victory.

Yet another disappointing trip to St James Park for Everton as they returned to Merseyside pointless and still unable to completely remove the spectre of relegation.

2003-04 Premier League Saturday 3 April, 2004
Newcastle United @ St James Park: 4-2 (Gravesen, Yobo) Attendance: 52,155
Everton: Martyn; Pistone, Yobo, Unsworth, Naysmith; Gravesen, Linderoth (Nyarko), Kilbane (McFadden); Radzinski, Campbell.
Unused Subs: Wright, Carsley, Hibbert.

Reader Comments (1)

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer

About these ads

---