A Radoslav Kovac first-half strike was cancelled out by a brace from Saha, punctuated by a rare goal for Joseph Yobo, to lift Everton to fifth in an eerily similar match to that of the reverse fixture at Upton Park. On that day, Collison gave West Ham the lead, only for Saha to strike twice, and a defender to put himself on the score sheet. It was Joleon Lescott’s header that day, but Yobo’s goal struck a similarity with Saha’s first, as it took a deflection before nestling into the West Ham net.
The game started with Everton on top, controlling the ball, and playing some good football. Pienaar continued his good form as he spun away from the West Ham midfield before showing the confidence to go for goal. It whistled, dipped and curled, but narrowly missed the far corner.
Soon, however, nerves may have crept in, and so ‘hoofball’ was prominent. This hoofball continued for a good ten to fifteen minutes, until Kovac awoke Everton. His long range strike, at first seeming special, was largely conceded due to poor goalkeeping by Tim Howard. It may have been the sun, he may have seen the ball late, but he should not have been getting beat from that range, considering the shot was not powerful, nor accurate. Yet it seemed a tactic West Ham were keen on, as Noble and Tristan also tried to test Howard from range in the first half. Whether this was panic fire, or a deliberate ploy from Zola, remains unknown.
After the goal, Everton woke up. They started to keep the ball again, and started pulling the strings. They would have their equaliser seven minutes before the interval, when they were awarded a penalty for a foul on Tim Cahill. The contact seemed negligible, but referee Phil Dowd not only saw it as a penalty, but also as a red card for Tomkins. The game changed in that moment.
There was a rather large delay of the taking of the penalty, but after long last, Saha stepped up and sent Green the wrong way, rifling his effort low and hard into the bottom right corner. The match was level, and news was filtering around Goodison of Middlesbrough’s lead against Villa. The half-time updates confirmed the score to be 1-0 in favour of the Riverside team, and the 38,000 inside Goodison saw this as an opportunity.
It only took the Toffees three minutes of the second half to grab the lead. Yobo controlled the ball with aplomb, off a Pienaar corner, and followed this up with a low drive across Green. It took a deflection as it treacled through a sea of claret and blue. The net bulged, Yobo pointed to the skies, and the crowd erupted, knowing that as it stood, fifth was theirs.
Boa Morte, who was largely anonymous, had a chance to level the match again. Using his pace to latch on to a beautiful through ball, the Portuguese man could not beat Tim Howard with his tame effort. For Everton though, who had held a high line throughout, this was a warning sign. Carlton Cole soon evaded the Everton offside trap but could not beat Howard in what can only be described as a scramble. Cole and Howard both fell to the floor, but it was the American who come out on top, getting to the ball first.
There was an uneasiness and sense of anxiety growing around Goodison, as the fans recognised the game was on a knife-edge. The Everton players, however, seemingly wanting to make up for their first half hoofball, could not resist the olé passing. The chants of olé with every pass seemed to egg the players on, as they just aimlessly passed it around the West Ham box. Everyone likes to see good football, but as the match was not won, it was too much too soon.
The match was soon put to bed, though, and as has so often been the case since the injury to Arteta, it was the Steven Pienaar show. After receiving the ball on the left hand channel, he executed his dummy beautifully to leave his man dead-on-his-feet. He charged into the box, but when so many would fall down, Pienaar kept his head to calmly pick Saha out, and the Frenchman simply could not miss from two yards out. Saha’s ‘worship’ gesture to Pienaar before the lap of honour, taken from Wayne’s World, said it all.
Saha could have soon bagged a hat-trick, as Everton sprung a quick counter attack, leaving two-on-one at the back. Cahill slipped Saha through down the middle, but he hit Green with his effort. Rodwell had already been brought on to replace Fellaini, and soon after Moyes withdrew Cahill and Saha, for Vaughan and Jo.
Jo may have been taking his final bow at Goodison yesterday, and he seemed eager to make a lasting impression. He was slipped through by Pienaar near the end, and when he looked certain to score, Neill got back at him to snatch the ball away from danger.
The final whistle blew, the news of Villa’s result had filtered through, and there were smiles all around. The smiles were short-lived, however, as Evertonians recognise how much of a bogey ground Craven Cottage is for them. That is where they travel to on the last day, to play an in-form and seventh-placed Fulham side, knowing a win will secure fifth place regardless of what Villa do. Villa need to beat a battling Newcastle side to stand a chance of reclaiming fifth.
Man of the Match: Yobo (9)
Topping off a solid defensive performance with a rare goal, Yobo proved his doubters wrong yesterday. Many eyebrows have been raised in the Nigerian’s direction since Jagielka was stretchered off, with many not thinking he is fit to lace his injured team-mate’s boots. Time will tell, I suppose, but going on yesterday’s performance, he can do a job on the 30th May.
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