FA Carling Premier League, Saturday, 14 October 1995
Previous Match: Everton v Millwall Next Match: Everton v Feyenoord
Paatelainen 1; Rideout 85.
Bolton Wanderers: Branagan, McAnespie, Phillips, Bergsson, Sneekes, Stubbs, Fairclough, McGinlay (Green 60), Paatelainen (Lee 84), Patterson, Thompson. Subs Not Used: Davison. Sent Off: Sneekes (51). Booked: Sneekes, Patterson.
Everton: Southall, Barrett, Hinchcliffe, Ablett (Limpar 53), Stuart, Rideout, Horne, Amokachi, Jackson, Kanchelskis (Barlow 87), Short. Subs Not Used: Kearton. Sent Off: Horne (61). Booked: Stuart.
Att: 20,427
Ref: P E Alcock (Redhill).
PremierNet: Everton snatched a draw in the closing minutes of a match that not even the return of both Daniel Amokachi and Andrei Kanchelskis could spark life into. After 4 successive defeats Everton will be relieved with the result if not the performance. Both teams had players sent off for what seemed innocuous challenges, which obviously didn't help either side.
Bolton started the game in incredible fashion with a goal after 45 seconds from Mixu Paatelainen who headed in a Richard Sneekes pass. The Dutch provider being the Bolton half of the sendings off. Amokachi missed a couple of chances and Kanchelskis finishing looked rusty in the 25th minute when he shot straight at Branagan in the Bolton goal, who also saved well from an Amokachi shot. Everton's best chance however came when Kanchelskis again shot at Branagan, the rebound falling to Rideout, who fired wide.
Sneekes was then sent off in the 51st minute for what referee Alcock deemed a second bookable offence, he was followed 10 minutes later by Barry Horne for a challenge on Branagan. It looked an odds on home win until the 86th minute when Rideout scored from a Hinchcliffe corner with a classy overhead kick. Had we had eleven a side for the entire game, perhaps more class could have shone through.
Daily Mail Soccernet: A spectacular equaliser from Paul Rideout five minutes from time ended Everton's miserable run of four Premiership defeats. They won a corner on the right and Andy Hinchcliffe's kick was flicked on by Matt Jackson for Rideout, at the far post, who produced an overhead kick to send the ball flashing just inside the upright.
It was tough on Bolton, on a run of three defeats themselves, as they had played some of their best football of the season and were bravely hanging on to a goal they snatched after just 42 seconds.
Richard Sneekes crossed from the right and Mixu Paatelainen, returning for his first game since the first match of the season, headed into the far top corner.
The Finn almost made it two a minute later with a flashing low drive but this time Neville Southall got his fingertips to it. Everton battled their way back into the match with Andrei Kanchelskis and Daniel Amokachi returning from injury to cause problems with their pacy, direct running.
Referee Paul Alcock dismissed Sneekes for a second bookable offence after 50 minutes but 10 minutes later Everton midfielder Barry Horne was also sent off for a bad challenge on keeper Keith Branagan.
Anders Limpar was sent on to try to retrieve the game for Everton and soon hit a good chance wide as the visitors seemed to be running out of ideas. Then Rideout struck to snatch a point that could prove invaluable.
David Shepherd: A draw usually leaves you with mixed feelings. After the visit to Bolton, feelings are indeed mixed. One on hand, an away point, an end to a losing streak, and hints of much better to come. On the other hand, when only a combination of bad luck a bad officiating can be enough to overcome superiority on the field and reduce it to a 'lucky' point against dismal opposition, the JR approach to Everton gets pitched back into the limelight.
On a mercifully fine and dry day, Everton filled their allocation of terrace (about 2,500) and ~5 rows of seats on ~scaffolding~! in front of the supermarket. This worrying structure adds to the other death traps, the wooden (no smoking just in case) stands on both long ends. (Taylor report?? Macclesfield? Marine? ...hint dropped!) Fences still surround the away corner embankment, and as a finishing touch add a few hundred leering pseudo-hard-boy locals and you have the perfect throwback football anachronism. Enjoy! - if you like remembering some of the ugliness of 'old' footy away games as well as the meat pie & cloth cap romance.
Now personally I love terracing. Sure enough it LOOKED chokka, but experience told me where to go to have a clear and comfortable view, with the added comfort of knowing that unlike with the bucket-seat lottery, I could move anytime if the nearby company was irritating. Only one ground improvement was noticeable - the pitch looked great, which is a genuine innovation for Burnden Pk. Whatever next? Decent cheap car parks?!?
Even despite the Amo and AK returns, JR fielded yet another new lineup. This latest one featured the incredible feat of squeezing 5 defenders in (Hinch, Ablett, Short, Barrett, Jackson) yet having Barry Horne do a lot of defensive covering, plus Graeme Stuart in centre midfield and two 'wingers' (Limpar, Barlow) on the bench. i.e. the kind of shuffle that will get you crucified by fans & press if it doesn't come off.
Kickoff. A soft probing home attack up the right side, a gentle chip cross to a lone marked attacker. Paatelainen has a defender (Short or Jackson) directly in front of him, and both jump well, but the ball drops just over S/J and hits the top of his head at the top of the jump at the far corner of the six yard box. The ball loops off, lobs Southall, and drops perfectly into the opposite top corner of the net. A complete fluke.
The gift start makes Bolton play like the chosen ones for a few minutes, and Everton's scared rabbit defence allows 2-3 dangerous opportunities to build - Forest all over again. This time they weather the rather shorter storm, and the remainder of the half is dull, dull, boring and dull.
Worse, I managed to have found 'moaners corner'.. no less than FIVE armchair managers from 3 different groups quickly started analysing and criticising every pass and tactic, basically concluding that there was no midfield, no talent, and EFC were turning into Oldham and going down. The rest of the large blue contingent could not find the heart to voice one good shout of encouragement ... all the hearts were in mouths and wondering how on earth we've ended up back in Walker's nightmare after the great revival.
At least Limpar was on the bench, and surely had to come on at half time ... but there were no changes and little difference until a poor but unlucky tackle on Horne got Sneekes (their best player on the day?) a second yellow on 51 mins. This at last woke up the blues fans and Everton started to increase the pressure on the supermarket end goal.
They woke up a lot more 10 minutes later when a cross too close to keeper Branagan found Horne (yes, I know.. incredible isn't it?) all alone challenging for the ball like Andy Gray or Duncan Ferguson. Horne clattered into Branagan, the ball bounced off the gloves for a corner, and the keeper collapsed like a sack of Irish potatoes. Home crowd howls demanded a red, but with no feet or elbows involved in a challenge for the ball, this cannot be construed as serious fouls play.. or can it?
Red card. Barry heads off, handing his captains armband to Hinchey, who throws it on the floor in disgust at the decision. Branagan spends 5 minutes having his face rubbed (though Barry was not tall enough to reach that high), and makes a miraculous unscarred recovery, and is subjected to the most air-searing and prolonged hatred for the rest of the match I have heard since the Durkin & Galloway debacle at Filbert St.
Despite the restored parity, Bolton decide to sub off top scored McGinlay and hold on for the win, because Limpar is now on for the unlucky Ablett, and Everton's attack pattern is not much affected without Horne.
With their supporters now animated and angered, Everton turn up the pressure another notch. Surely eventually one of the runs from Amo, AK or Limpar must get through?! Limpar looks deadly. Behind & right of the goal, I had a perfect keeper's eye view of what it looks like to have Limpar running your way, and I assure you it's a scary sight. After one disallowed for offside, one save and one blazing past the near post, it was looking still like a gods-hate-us loss, but with more dignity than the laurel and hardy antics of the first half.
Plenty of AK runs, plenty of corners. All of Bolton's efforts were simple and sometimes effective, but dogged by talent more appropriate to the lower first division ... which just made Everton's inability to crush them more frustrating. When a corner missed everyone including an a flapping Branagan and an anguished Stuart and the far post, most Blues were resigned to the defeat, because hopes were nearly resting on stoppage time of an unsympathetic referee.
Then it was time for football to laugh in the face of the home team, so close after 85 minutes to a priceless 3 points: Hinchcliffe's worst of many bad corners went waist high to the first man, Jackson, who hooked a leg at it in desperation, looping it over everyone again, but just behind Rideout at the far post, who's only option was a low overhead kick. Met perfectly, it slotted in between keeper and post. On his back near the wrong post, PR still insisted on running round to enjoy the celebrations of the away fans.
The anonymous man of the all-star-all-flair attack had done it again.
There should have been time for a winner, but as feared, the ref (new to the list?) added a miserly 2.5 minutes to round off an afternoon which will not make him welcome again in a hurry.
Southall 6 Not busy. No chance with goal. Good header(!) under pressure. Very nearly lost his rag over decisions - luckily the rest of the team were not so affected.
Ablett 8 Gary had such a good game that he certainly delayed the inevitable appearance of Limpar, for which he is the only sensible choice of player to withdraw.
Hinchcliffe 6 Not himself today, his crosses lacked accuracy and venom, and didn't work too well with Limpar.
Short 7 Average & adequate.
Barrett 7 About as much good at centre back as at right back, but goes AWOL a bit less. But I'd send him to the reserves for a month to learn how to tackle a charging attacker before we get burned even more..
Jackson 9 One of Jackson's best performances - a graveyard for attackers, willing to run at defenders even into the box but never seems to be caught jogging in midfield when there's a counter-attack (cough)..; always looks to release Kanchelskis. Appetite for playing seems reupholstered by new contract.
Horne 6 Willing but not producing the inspiration needed in building from midfield. Defensive cover good. Red card stupid.
Stuart 6 A complete waste of space on the field. Rarely contributed, and never looked any threat. Suffice to say Bolton sans McAteer dominated in midfield.
Kanchelskis 7 Often double-marked, and well shepherded away from the box on his runs, but he's a firework which can explode on you at any time. Look forward to his settling in.
Limpar 7 Our slightly more experienced firecracker looked dangerous and hungry for a goal, but saw rather too little of the ball today.
Amokachi 8 For a return from injury, this was as good a 90 minutes work as you could ask of mortal man.. but oh for some immortal magic to go with the mortal effort.
Rideout 7 Left anonymous by the first half's dismal service, PR guts it out and grabbed a late goal much more important for club morale than for the point it earned.
Barlow 7 What you have to admire most about Barlow's brief moments on the field is that he gets on with his job. He knows he's something of a joke, and rarely makes an impact on the game, but he ploughs on with his job like a professional.
Team Performance 6 Bursting with talent, the team now needs to start learning to play WITH each other instead of as 13 individuals.
Ref: P Alcock - Tries hard - too hard. Ends up being officious and irritating. Gave foul throws, rolling balls, insisted on dead balls in their exact places. Sent off Horne for a yellow card offence.
By Derek Potter, The Electronic Telegraph
Bolton (1) 1 Everton (0) 1
Paatelainen 1; Rideout 85.
APART from the 85th-minute equaliser by Paul Rideout, there was little to suggest Everton are in the right mood for Thursday's Cup-Winners' Cup tie against Feyenoord.
The he-man stuff at Burnden Park served mainly as a reminder of the quality of that Everton team who went to Holland a decade ago and beat Rapid Vienna to win the trophy. How Evertonians must yearn for a return to such glorious days . . . the title and a narrow defeat by Manchester United at Wembley three days after the Dutch treat.
Still, at least Everton salvaged a point after a first-minute setback when a Mixu Paatelainen header floated over Neville Southall and there was a promising buzz about Andrei Kanchelskis and Daniel Amokachi, both back after injury. Either could have won it by supplying the finishing power so noticeably missing and likely to be costly now that Duncan Ferguson's fate is known.
With central defender Alan Stubbs patrolling in front of the defence, Bolton are clearly determined not to be such a soft touch. Scott Green or Alan Thompson might have inflicted a fifth successive defeat on Everton before Rideout's acrobatics.
But there were match-winning chances for Everton, too, notably just before the break when a cross by Kanchelskis spun out of Rideout's range. Rideout finally scored with a spectacular overhead kick from a corner by Andy Hinchcliffe.
Both teams were angered by the red cards shown to Richard Sneekes, sent off for two less than fierce tackles, and Barry Horne, dismissed for a challenge on goalkeeper Keith Branagan.
"It looked like being another of those days," sighed Joe Royle. "We needed a spectacular goal and we got one. That might turn things round for us."
Electronic Telegraph is a Registered Service Mark of The Telegraph plc
Guy McEvoy: Burnden Park was always going to be a nostalgic trip for me; I remember as a kid my late step-dad pulling me along to watch abysmal Third Division games in an extraordinarily futile attempt to convert my allegiance. Times have changed though and the Trotters are now back in the big league; to add to the nostalgia, this must be the last time I will ever stand for a Premiership game (a funeral I thought I'd already attended!).
The Blue faithful packed into the "Supermarket End", an enormous number (myself included) wearing the inevitable "Dunc is no Criminal", "Free Fergie" T-shirts that were selling outside the ground for a very reasonable fiver. Everton were on the pitch when I arrived and treated the crowd to a full set of training routines (Italian style) before kick off. Our finishing in these exercises was unlikely to put the fear of God into the Bolton lot.
First Half: The teams took position the whistle went, the ball came to Ablett who knocked it forward, Bolton gained possession and brought the ball straight down their right wing, knocked it into the box, and Paatelainen with his first touch after a good spell absent rose above the challenge to lob a header that gave Nev no chance. 40 odd seconds gone and we were one down. Why is it every time I've travelled away recently we seem to have a disastrous start?
There followed a couple of minutes of Shell-shock in which Bolton were unlucky not to go two up before we regained some composure, Nev making a good stretched save.
When the composure did return we were treated to some of the nicest play we've seen all season. In the first half Amokachi seemed to be at the centre of everything that was positive about our play. Kanchelskis also gave us glimpses of his talent with a number of good runs, however the Bolton full back with the unenviable task of keeping tabs on him did a very good job.
The chance of the half fell to Rideout, Amokachi had a good effort saved but the lose ball was picked up by Rideout probably within 10 yards and a lovely open goal. Impossibly, he stuck it wide. The man seemed determined to justify his colleagues nickname of him ("Cabbage").
Half time was met with boos from our end, we seemed destined for another frustrating Saturday afternoon.
Second Half: The new half though brought an even more apparent change in attitude, things looked up when Wanderers lost Sneekes after a second bookable offence and we introduced Limpar.
Very quickly, Everton seemed to be entering into an inter-team dribbling competition. Kanchelskis, Limpar and Amokachi were making some wonderful runs - even Matt Jackson was joining in the game, coming up with some good runs himself and showing (with a couple of notable exceptions) a very good understanding with Kanchelskis.
However, despite our ability to drive forward, we were still suffering from the old problem of a reluctance to shoot, having magically weaved our way to the edge of the box, attacks would break down due to no-one taking responsibility to force themselves into a goal scoring position.
Stuart and Rideout were left practical spectators for good chunks of the game, neither of them inspiring with their off-the-ball movement or their ability to find space. Mid-way through the second half I was already formulating the venom of my "Rideout Must Go" tone I imagined this posting was going to be dedicated to. It seemed the same old story, lots of possession and good build up, but little of the willingness to take the responsibility to force the ball into a final committed attack.
A result started to seem unlikely when Anders (who did take some responsibility!) finally broke free of the defence and found himself in the sort of situation you would put your house on him scoring, having done the hard work though he took the ball a crucial extra yard that narrowed the angle and he stuck it wide.
After that things got worse when we mystifyingly lost Barry Horne (who had been back to his old self for this match). The ball was coming down in the box between Barry and the Goalie, I had an excellent view of the incident and it really did look a 50/50 chance, Barry went up as the Goalie surged forward. The clash saw him on the floor and the chants from the Bolton crowd clearly influenced the ref's decision to show red and cost us our man advantage.
With five minutes to go then, I was resigned to another defeat and another slip towards the abyss below the dotted line in the league table. We kept on the pressure and were rewarded with a corner. All our corners had looked pretty aimless up to that point so I wasn't holding my breath. Hinchcliffe crossed, Jackson flicked it on. The ball went across the goal and past Rideout who was too far forward. And then it happened. The man who had, to that point a singularly unimpressive afternoon, the man who missed a five-yard open goal, the man who was getting toasted by the fans, the man they call "Cabbage" - just for one brief magical moment thought he was playing Serie A stuff again. The magnificent overhead bicycle kick found its way into the top corner.
It is astonishingly unjust that of all people it should be Rideout who knocks in a goal like that, maybe it's the law of averages in operation, still who gives a stuff who scored, it went in saved us a point and will be a certain contender for the Everton goal of the season.
We really should be aiming to beat teams like Bolton and from that respect the result is disappointing, nevertheless there was a lot of promise on the park today and there were many hints of what we could become with a little run of luck to bolster our confidence. The formula isn't there yet, but some of the ingredients are. Come on Joe we could sense that we are only one or two changes from returning to winning ways!
Southall 7 - Pulled off an excellent save in the first, much quieter in the second.
Jackson 8 - I thought he had a blinder. He played his heart out with obvious determination to prove his first team worth. Showed very good understanding with Kanchelskis, had a number of forays forward, and covered very competently at the back. Willing to take the responsibility to make things happen (even though they sometimes didn't work out). For sheer industry he's my Man of the Match.
Ablett 7 - His timing for charging down crosses is superb, I counted him do it 3 times in the first half.
Short 6 - Still has done nothing to impress me.
Barrett 7 - Still gets enormous stick, on this occasion not really justified.
Hinchcliffe 6 - The sweetest left foot in the game appears to have gone a bit sour. Doesn't seem to be able to weight his crosses that well any more, gave away a number of interceptions.
Horne 7 - Very unlucky to get sent off had had a very good game up to that point.
Kanchelskis 7 - Had some good runs and caused a lot of trouble. Was very well marked though.
Amokachi 8 - As good as I've seen him, finishing always lets him down but as a playmaker he is as good as anyone in the team, had some truly blistering runs.
Stuart 6 - After a bright start he seemed to be a bit out of the game by mid way through the first half.
Rideout 7 - Missed an open goal then scores an overhead effort. Crazy world. (Without the goal I would have scored him 5)
Limpar 7 - Whenever he comes on we find more chances.
Barlow 7 - (Imagine subbing Kanchelskis for Barlow!!) Had about five touches; two (including his first) were absolute stinkers but the other three surprisingly created chances.
And that's how I saw it through my always predjudicialy tinted specs. That MUST really be the last time I stand up in the Premiership.