Where are all the lorries? En route to Goodison — that' where!

The M5 near Worcester is nearly my second home so big respect for making the journey from the South-West enduring Midlands and Staffs traffic to reach Goodison – not the easiest journey.

Thank the lord we won – what a distance to ruminate over a loss!!

Pickford: couple of decent saves and a much more solid presence, 7.
Godfrey: not yet fully fit, 6.
Digne: better but crossing still not great, 6.
Keane: scary when he allowed one to drop over him but solid, 6.
Mina: superb performance, 9.
Townsend: love his attitude and skill too, 8.
Allan: solid, good on the ball, and earned the penalty, 7.
Doucouré: outstanding game, must be allowed to attack, 8.
Gray: super player, defences must hate him, 7.
Iwobi: has his detractors(!!!!!) but I thought he did quite well, 7/.
Rondon: slow, lacks sharpness but clearly needs a lot of training to get fit, 6
Davies: chased around and nearly scored, 6
Dobbin: looked quite sharp and comfortable with quick passing to feet: 7
Gordon: one decent run and looked up for it, 7.

Doucouré took the Man of the Match award on the coach, getting 39 out of 57 votes!

I take my hat off to Dave and fans like him and realise how lucky I've been following Everton all my life and never living more than a 5-minute bus ride away, or a 15-minute walk away from Goodison Park.

What was it the Ginger wonder said "... once Everton has touched you nothing will be the same".

One da,y Dave, one day we will meet before the game. My kids are already saying I have to take the grandson before we move (the lad is less than 4½ at the moment so attention span will not be great!).

A very enjoyable read, thanks.

Glad you got to see a win.

Your comment re your grandson's age struck a chord at the match at the weekend. I was sitting with my son who is now 32 and was telling my neighbour in the next seat, who was talking about his children attending, that my son's first game was the infamous Wimbledon game when he was circa 4½.

We had always told our kids not to stand on the furniture at home or when we were out; when the 3rd goal went in and Goodson erupted, I ended up dancing on a seat about 3 rows from where I was sitting.

When I got back to my seat and the place had quietened down a bit, my son, who was still sitting on his, thankfully unharmed, was sitting with an angry face and proclaimed at the top of his voice “You told me not to stand on the chairs!” – to which the section of the Lower Bullens I was sitting in were in hysterics. Still makes me smile now.

I just about made my train and got back to London in time to watch the last 4 rounds in the sports bar in Marylebone Station before heading off home. Long days, but worth it, right!!

Taunton, now you've invoked many a good memory having spent a few months there on a training course many years ago!

COYB

Which also applies to Mr Danny O'Neill's oft travels from the smoke, although I'm inclined to think this is more to get away from the dogs and to see how many pints in how many different places he can put away! – Sorry Danny!

Steve Wissett – great post!

"Rondon: slow, lacks sharpness but clearly needs a lot of training to get fit, 6

Davies: chased around and nearly scored, 6"

Rondon at best, even given you liberal marking was a 3 or 4 – I reckon that's close to about 1 for each touch!

I think (certainly hope) that he's got it in him to improve markedly but, as someone said somewhere on a different thread, by the time he gets up to speed, Calvert-Lewin will likely be back so we'll not see much of the guy.

I do hope he can make it as a solid back-up but he must improve from what we're seeing so far.

If I could take the dogs I would as it would get rid of the fuss they make when I get home sometime past midnight, before settling down on the couch with the two of them. Doesn't sound too bad, but they're Rhodesian Ridgebacks, so it doesn't leave for much space.

Still slept with a smile on my face though! As did they!!

I was in a pretty happy mood when I did the ratings so fair point!

Danny,

Sneaking in and out without disturbing two dogs is not easy, is it! Mine are much smaller than your two but they can really make a racket if disturbed!

Phil,

Must sort something before we get too old!

Phil #6 thanks for letting us know what a distinguished alum Dave is! And keep those proprietary statistics coming, sir.

Steve #9, you gave me my first belly laugh of the week. Great story.

Nice article and thank goodness you have managed to bring some humour and positivity into what was a dreadful travel day for the Westcountry Blues.

Whilst it was difficult, and we missed the start of the game and I failed to marry up with some people to get tickets to them the fact that there was a fatality on the M62 the night before adding to the problems sort of puts it into perspective.

I have contacted the coach company and we have set up a meeting in the near future to discuss the problems we are having this season.

It is absolutely all to do with driver availability it seems and the company who as a well established one simply cannot run their day to day business and fulfil weekend excursions with the limited driver pool they now have citing BREXIT and the Furlough scheme as reasons.

We will see what solutions we can find at our meeting that Ron and I shall attend.

For anybody reading this the Westcountry Blues Official Everton Supporters Club travelling regularly by executive coach to Goodison Park from the Westcountry on match days. Why not join us and experience the match day live…its far better than sitting at home and waiting for Match of the Day! The Westcountry Blues offer a friendly and ‘hassle free' method of getting to Goodison Park. Why not sit back and relax, meet and catch up with friends on the coach.

For the journey to the match from the Westcountry we have 4 main pick up points at Taunton, Bristol, on the M5 motorway near Junction 13 and our final pick up point at Strensham Services.

Westcountry Blues members travel regularly from many parts of Avon, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire to these pick up points and the furthest season ticket holder land regular attendee lives 26 miles from Lands End!

You will see some of us at all away games of course and we have made lots of friends from all around the country sharing this passion we have.