Southampton 2 - 0 Everton

Half-time: 0 - 0

Everton played brightly in the first half, with plenty of forward movement and lots of goalscoring chances created. But the scoreline remained 0-0 at the break, and Everton were to pay dearly in the second half for their profligacy.

After Everton had dominated play for so much of the 1st half, disaster struck early in the second when a mistake by Unsworth let Tessem in to score for Southampton. Everton tried to respond, with Dunne making a challenging run, losing the ball, and Oakley coming back to score a second for the Saints! Utterly diabolical.

Everton where destroyed by this, and could do nothing right in the second half. Moore came on ridiculously late for Dunne – and had just 10 minutes to do something. In the end, an abysmal display, for which Walter Smith must share a significant part of the blame.

To be honest, it had been half-expected – Everton's recent unbeaten run has been deceptive – based as it was on some of their poorest performances.  Let's hope this serves as a good kick in the backside for next week's vital FA Cup tie.

Some of the more enterprising lads even managed to get into the said apartment of the two Southampton fans to great cheers. All that succeeded in doing however was getting the police to post men at the front of the building and to start taking video footage of us rowdy Evertonians. The NTAS turnout was meagre in comparison to the same game last year. I only counted about 5.

But anyway, on to the game...

Southampton away has never caught my imagination, and the past 4 years while I've been in the city hasn't served to change that. Memories of a 2-goal comeback, a missed penalty and last year's lacklustre performance all flooded back to me in the buildup to the game. Further to all that, a quick perusal of the day's papers revealed that the ref for the day was none other than that fine upstanding newbie Andy D'Urso. Two games with us: two sending's off... another today? Definitely not good.

We lined up Gerrard, Dunne, Unsworth, Gough, Weir, Hutchison (c), Collins, Barmby, Pembridge, Jeffers, Campbell. Southampton were missing Le Tissier, while that scourge of us for so many years, Mark Hughes was on the bench, with Kachoul away on African's Nation Cup duty.

First Half

We started up slightly edgy, with Dunne being the main culprit. He didn't look steady at all with the first few testers and, with Boa Morte being the slippery customer he never was at Arsenal, we soon found ourselves on the back foot.

From one of these opportunities, Gerrard had to come out and dive early to smother a through ball. He took a knock, but it didn't seem as if it was anything serious. However, almost immediately, Gough signalled to the bench, and within minutes, Simonsen was jogging on to make a rare first-team appearance. Only 500 or so more before we have to chalk up the rest of his £3.3M fee...

Most of the first half was spent without much action. The ball was quickly lost and regained and lost with regularity, puntuated by the odd half-hearted effort on goal. We definitely had the better of it creativity-wise, but the finishing was woeful.

On more than one occasion, Jeffers raced through on the right and advanced menacingly only to either shoot tamely or pass off, breaking down the momentum of the attack his run had created. The one good chance off a counter we had was from Hutchison, but his shot while dipping was about a foot or so over. Of the few corners we managed to force, Gough headed well over, and the rest were wasted. Indeed, it has to be said.... We didn't put in one good cross all game.

We also had a decent shout for a penalty when Campbell's shirt was clearly being tugged, but nothing was given. On the disciplinary front, Southampton had Lundvekam and Makin booked, while Unsworth erred just once too many times for us. Half-time was met by a chorus of boos for a disinterested Southampton performance thus far.

Second Half

They started the second half with a bang, and were in front within 2 minutes. A Southampton attack was going nowhere with no Everton player seemingly interested in clearing the ball as it fell to Tessem on the edge of the box and he whacked it into the bottom corner. 1-0.

Simonsen hadn't had a shot to save so far but it was one of those that you have to feel a keeper of his height shouldn't be conceding. He had a clear sight of it, and just didn't get down quickly enough to save it.

The goal started a 20-minute period of incessant Southampton pressure, with Pahars the thorn in our side almost everytime. His intelligent running is not unlike Jeffers, and suffice to say, he could have had at least two goals. He shot wide without much power once, and a second time when he went through on goal only to screw his shot wide. That should have been 2-0.

It was a few minutes later when Dunne, trying to play his way out on the right flank, was dispossesed; Oakley broke from the centre to fire a shot from just outside the area into the same corner as before. This time, a Southampton player (Davies or Pahars) had made a central run and was clearly offside when Oakley shot. The ref clearly thought he wasn't intefering with play and a goal was given. How someone can not be intefering with play when standing right in the middle and in the keeper's line of sight I don't know. It shouldn't have been given, but it was and we were now in a two-goal hole.

Shortly after, Pahars made yet another diagonal run with Unsworth tracking him. As Unsworth slid in to tackle, the Latvian clearly dived in front of the away fans to incur more than the odd disgruntled comment. Now here's the crunch. That could and should have been a bookable offence if it was a foul. It was deemed a foul.... and as Unsworth was beckoned towards the ref, I feared the worst...

Surprisingly, he got just a strict talking-to, although one had to feel that the next clumsy tackle Unsworth put in would be more severely treated. Now, either that "calm down" order from the league has been taken seriously or D'Urso just felt generous – we will never know. Walt however, wasn't taking any chances: Ball was sent on minutes later. Another Pahars run saw him through again on the right and bearing in on goal. This time however, his shot was well-saved by Simonsen.

2-0 down away from home. To our credit, we then mounted a fightback of sorts and moved away from the pressure that had been exerted to come into our own. The midfield started winning some possesion, and the chances started being created. From one (a mis-hit effort from the left), Campbell did well to angle his body backwards and direct a header which was just sneaking in under the bar till Jones in the Southampton goal tipped it over acrobatically.

Another attack minutes later saw Dunne charging down the right in a way reminiscent of Rhino in his VERY early days and his cross in gave Hutch a shooting chance but Jones and his defence managed to scramble the shot away. Moore was given his customary 10 minutes at the end, but after that, it was just a matter of waiting for the final whistle.

Ratings:

• Gerrard : Injured (6 mins)
• Simonsen : 6 Wasn't troubled by anything other than those two shots. One should have been saved, the other... he may have been unsighted... he certainly looked like he dived rather late.
• Dunne : 5 Nothing like his best game, gave away the ball far too many times
• Unsworth : 5 Unspectacular, and tormented by Pahars the whole time he was on. Crossing woeful.
• Gough : 7 One of our better performers, and had to deal with the lively Latvian more than once, coming out on top usually. Also won almost everything in the air.
• Weir : 6 A little cumbersome today.
• Hutchison : 5 Nothing till 2-0 down. Completely outplayed by Southampton midfield.
• Collins : 4 What form? A few good long balls, but nothing seriously worthwhile.
• Barmby : 6 Looked lively in the first half and behind some of our better moves, but second half seemed out of it.
• Pembridge : 10 for effort, 0 for quality. I'm sorry... he puts in 100% I know, but his crossing is absolutely abject. Is he a central midfielder playing out on the wing?
• Jeffers : 6 Looked better than in the last few games, but still no finishing to match good approach play.
• Campbell : 7 Won a lot in the air, but didn't impose himself enough up front.
• Ball : 6 Still gets sucked into the middle far too often and, although his crossing was better than Unsworth's or Pembridge's ,that isn't saying much.
• Moore : Not on long enough.

We were totally dominant in the first half, albeit the better of two crap sides.  Should have gone in at least a goal up, but thanks to our complete impotence in attack, Southampton were still in the game. 

In a match of abject performances (someone put me right if any player put in an above-average display, 'cos I didn't spot it), one player stood out like a shining beacon of mediocrity, and that's putting it kindly.  What is Richard Dunne doing even on the books of a Premiership club, never mind a regular in the team?  Slow, ponderous, totally unable to kick or even head the ball in the intended direction, he looked like someone pulled in from the Winston at the last minute. And all this without a decent left winger in opposition.  The guy may have a future somewhere in the lower reaches of the Nationwide League, but I doubt even that. 

David Unsworth should have been sent off. he blatantly fouled Pahars right in front of me, having already been booked. The barracking of the Saints player afterwards was totally unjustified. WS was right to substitute him immediately. Pahars, by the way, was very impressive, and if Francis Jeffers was to put in half his effort and enthusiasm (running off the ball Franny, remember that?), he might start to justify his inflated wage-packet. 

All in all, the worst Everton performance that I have had the misfortune to witness in a long time.

Ratings by Paul Collyer

• Simonsen 6 - kicking a little dubious. TV replays will tell whether he should have saved either goal
• Dunne 5 - rubbish game today
• Gough 8 - won everything in the air and made great tackles. Appeared to be the fittest man on the pitch.
• Weir 7 - ok
• Unsworth 5 - cost us the first goal and lucky not to be sent off
• Pembo 6 - not as bad as the boo boys make out..at least he seems to possess a footballing brain
• Collins 6 - ok passer, ok tackler but not good enough at either
• Hutch 7 - best midfielder
• Barmby 6 - tried hard
• Campbell 5 - worked hard but played shite
• Jeffers 4 - needs a rest NOW
• Ball 6 - replaced Unsworth - ok
• Moore 6 - time to give him a run

At half-time, Jones's side were lucky to be on level terms. They had been non-existent as an attacking force, while at the back they were stretched constantly by Francis Jeffers, Nick Barmby and the rest of Everton's forward line.

But for once, Southampton enjoyed whatever good fortune was going and punished Walter Smith's men with two goals early in the second half to ease the pressure on the manager, at least for the next two weeks until Southampton play West Ham.

Jones, whose side had won only twice in 16 previous outings, made six changes from the team humiliated 5-0 at Newcastle at week ago. He received a mixed reception when he took his place in the dugout despite apologising to the fans in the match programme for the performance at St James' Park.

With a High Court case pending into widely publicised allegations concerning his private life, Jones badly needed a morale boost to halt his team's perennial slide into the relegation zone. Instead he watched them suffer from nerves and a total lack of confidence as Everton carved out and missed a series of first-half chances.

Crucially, however, Everton came unstuck after the break, their substitute goalkeeper Steve Simonsen – a replacement for groin injury victim Paul Gerrard from the seventh minute onwards – beaten by a couple of excellent strikes from Jo Tessem, a £650,000 signing from Molde in Norway, and Matthew Oakley.

Everton, to their credit, never stopped coming at Southampton and five times could have narrowed the deficit, thwarted through a mixture of wayward finishing and superb goalkeeping by Paul Jones.

David Jones's committal hearing into child abuse allegations takes place in Liverpool on Wednesday when a trial date will be set and the Southampton manager was not afraid to discuss the case's impact – or lack of it – on his fitness to manage a Premiership club.

"Some people think it's putting pressure on me and I can't stop them," said Jones in a heartfelt press conference. "If it was troubling me I'd go to the chairman and tell him. The fact is I've done nothing wrong and because of that I've been able to concentrate on my football until I get the chance to clear my name."

Yet even without his personal problems, Jones knows how hard the job is at Southampton, especially with a new stadium 18 months away from opening.

How Southampton needed a victory. Conceding five goals at St James' Park last Sunday was followed by a demand from supporters' representatives to Rupert Lowe, the chairman, that the time had come for David Jones to go. Once again, there was a call for Lawrie McMenemy to return as manager, with Joe Jordan as his relatively youthful assistant.

Lowe continues to give his manager support in public, although there is little that is pretty about Southampton's football in the continuing absence of Matt Le Tissier. Indeed, much of it smacked of desperation yesterday. "We felt and looked nervous," said Jones, "myself included."

Southampton made six changes following their defeat by Newcastle, including the much-needed return after injury of Matthew Oakley. "We took a pasting last week and this was a hard fought, scrappy game," said Jones. "I heard Everton's manager saying we had scored two poxy goals, but I don't mind that."

There was a certain physical presence about Southampton, although the injury which caused Paul Gerrard, Everton's goalkeeper, to leave the pitch after just seven minutes did not have anything to do with that. He suffered a groin strain taking the first goal kick required of him. Steve Simonsen, who was making his Premiership debut, was his replacement.

When Southampton took the lead two minutes after half time, it was through their only method of attack that had proved reasonably effective. Joe Tessem collected the ball 20 yards from goal and drove with marked accuracy into the tightest of spaces to Simon-sen's left. Southampton's second also owed everything to clarity of thought and accuracy of shot. This time it was Oakley who, collecting a fortuitous rebound, beat Simonsen from a closer range.

The scoreline could have been more emphatic, for Marian Pahars twice went close during some late, frenzied activity. Although Kevin Campbell and John Collins had chances palmed away, Everton did not play well.

On Wednesday, Southampton's manager appears before a court in Liverpool to face an accusation of mistreatment of children. "I have done nothing wrong, so I can focus totally on football," Jones insisted. "This club is relegation fodder from day one of a season but everybody within the club has won their pride back today after our defeat last week."

A side showing six changes from the one humiliated at Newcastle last weekend, dozed through a soporific first period, only to be shaken into life at half-time and going on to collect an invaluable, if unlikely, victory – only their third in 17 games since starting the campaign unexpectedly well.

Everton went into the game unbeaten for seven weeks – a run they normally manage only in the close season. Forced to change their goalkeeper in the first few minutes, they pressed for long periods on either side of the goals, without reward.

Relegation worries apart, Southampton's other unknown factor is the future of manager Dave Jones, a former Evertonian who is expecting a date for his trial on charges of offences against children while working on Merseyside some years ago.

Jones received the backing of the directors and fans but purely footballing considerations, like conceding four goals in the first half-hour at Newcastle, have begun to erode his popularity.

Yesterday he changed more than half the side following that debacle, dropping Stuart Ripley, Mark Hughes and James Beattie. The in-comers settled slowly, even with the bonus of facing opponents whose keeper was injured in the third minute. Paul Gerrard landed uncomfortably after being fouled by Kevin Davies as they went for a high cross, and finally persuaded his coaches he could not continue.

Steve Simonsen, signed from Tranmere many moons ago, was belatedly introduced to the Premiership but was required to do little more than watch his team take the game to the other end of the pitch. Their finishing, however, was not of sufficient quality to test Paul Jones.

Francis Jeffers and Nick Barmby shot wide, Don Hutchison's half-volley was too high and Richard Gough completely miscued his free header from a corner. The nastiest moment for Jones was when Francis Benali, a team-mate, almost diverted John Collins' cross past him.

By half-time the less patient locals had come out with a chorus of "what a load of rubbish", Davies having hit their only chance of the half well wide. The tone, and tune, changed as, to general astonishment, Southampton scored twice within 12 minutes of the resumption.

Defensive errors were to blame for both. David Unsworth was guilty of not clearing his lines, allowing Davies to nudge the ball square for Norwegian Jo Tessem to drive low from 20 yards just inside Simonsen's near post. It was a triumphant first goal in English football by Tessem, signed after playing for Molde in the Champions' League earlier in the season. But Simonsen must have felt he could have done better.

The goalkeeper was badly let down in the 57th minute by Richard Dunne, who was a liability throughout at right-back. The young Irishman inevitably lost possession trying to dribble past three opponents, one of whom, Matt Oakley, accepted the candy from a baby and ran on to give the scoreline an even more remarkable look.

Southampton fans talked about bringing in the managerial dream ticket of Lawrie McMenemy and Joe Jordan – are they sure? – and the obituary writers prepared their script for the weekend.

A victory, albeit drab and unconvincing, against Everton at The Dell will have appeased the agitators and at least given Jones space to breathe. "It was not the prettiest. We looked nervous, but you could see the confidence coming back after we got the second goal," he said. "We feel the pressure from day one. We're always talked of as relegation fodder, but we battle on."

Away from football, Jones is preparing for another battle, a legal duel of possibly greater consequences than the mere loss of Premiership status. He faces charges relating to the alleged mistreatment of children from his days as a social worker and returns to Merseyside on Wednesday for a trial date to be set.

He cannot talk about the case, for fear of prejudice, but talks nonetheless, a subtle foretaste of the inevitable "David Jones is innocent, OK?" campaign that will surround the proceedings. "Until I go to court, I can't clear my name," he said. "At the end of the day, I know I haven't done anything wrong."

Jones sat down with his players last week and chewed over the debris from the 5-0 crushing by Newcastle United at St James' Park. Opinions were offered, home truths told and everyone emerged in a healthier state. "We were on a slippery slope and it was good to clear the air," Dean Richards, the central defender, said. "We all said our piece.

"The boss hasn't brought his other problems to work. He's blanked it out and got on with the job. He's a professional."

It took a while for Jones's earnest chat with the lads to take effect and they were jeered from the field at half-time. However, once Tessem had scored his first goal for the club in the 48th minute – a low shot that Simonsen, Everton's replacement goalkeeper, allowed to squirm under his body – the self-belief surged back.

Oakley's delightful curler, eight minutes later, confirmed their new-found vigour and a series of agile saves from Paul Jones negated Everton's belated rally. The vultures still hover, eager to devour their prey. They may go hungry.

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