Date: Sat 3rd March 2001, 3.00pm. Venue: Goodison Park  Conditions: Defying the weather forecast, an almost cloudless sky with sunny intervals.

Everton	1 - 1	Newcastle United
Half time:	0 - 0
Score Sheet:
Unsworth (82 pen)		Unsworth og (47)
	Teams
Gerrard Xavier Weir Ball S. Watson Naysmith Gemmill Nyarko Gravesen Campbell Jeffers		Given Griffin S.Caldwell Hughes Quinn Bassedas Lee Acuna Solano Shearer Ameobi
Substitutes:
(29) Unsworth for Naysmith (46) Tal for Nyarko (69) Gascoigne for Xavier		Gallacher for Ameobi (69) Glass for Bassedas (87) Cordone for Solano (87)
Subs not used:
Simonsen Jevons		Harper McClen
Bookings:
Naysmith (22)		Shearer (62) Lee (74)
Referee: David Elleray (Harrow-on-the-Hill). The usual air of superiority from this official, who officiated with the pompousness that has characterised previous performances. Alan Shearer will count himself doubly unfortunate to have come up against Elleray and Rob Harris in the first two games of his comeback - both seem to be confirmed haters of the former England man.
Attendance: 35,779. Almost 5,000 below capacity. Another misnomer - "all Premier League games are sold out, you just can't get the tickets etc." Don't believe the hype - as Public Enemy once said.... Chant of the day - apart from frequent renditions of "you'll never walk alone", which annoyed the home fans, the most popular song of the afternoon was an increasingly popular version of the hokey cokey that immortalises Shola Ameobi. That proved to be more entertaining than yet another trip to Goodison for a match almost totally devoid of quality football or entertainment.

Half time: Everton 0 Newcastle 0

47 mins. Alan Shearer stumbled into the Everton box and regaining his footing, robbed Abel Xavier on the left side of the area before putting over a low cross.

Paul Gerrard could only push the ball into the path of David Unsworth and the ball ran into the empty net from his boot, with Nobby Solano lurking behind. 1-0

82 mins. Steve Caldwell bumped into Kevin Campbell in the box at the Gwladys Street end of the ground and referee David Elleray pointed to the spot after short deliberation, amid appeals from home fans and players.

David Unsworth shot low to Shay Given's right as the keeper went the other way. 1-1

Full time: Everton 1 Newcastle 1

Uncle Bobby fumed about the penalty awarded against Caldwell: 

Walter Smith said:

"We should have had the game wrapped up and I was delighted that we got something we deserved to get ourselves back into the game.

"For a long time it looked like just one of those days.

"We just didn't capitalise on the chances we made."

Smith's version of the penalty decision was:

"I wouldn't argue with the referee about that. When you barge into a player the referee is likely to give a spot-kick."

At one stage in this contest as the lively Toon contingent serenaded their opposite numbers with a chorus of "shall we sing a song for you?" the reply was brief and succinct, one home fan baring his behind at the Newcastle end.

As he was led out of the ground by the police, to home protests and away cheers, he may have reflected that starting a chant of "shall we score a goal for you?" might have been a better choice of riposte to our taunts.

Were it not for the timely intervention of Unsworth, our 294 minute stretch of not scoring would surely have been prolonged, Everton's kind contribution being the only meaningful shot on target we managed in the whole game.

Bobby Robson had asked for a special performance from Solano before jetting off with Peru, but after one or two moments of unrewarded effort in the first half, he faded from view totally. Thanks Nobby, Bon Voyage. Similarly, the restored Bassedas again looked like he'd come in fancy dress - as the invisible man.

With Shola and Shearer failing to link up effectively, we were no better than in the previous two games when going forward, and posed no threat at all to the home defences, discounting a half-reasonable penalty appeal from Shearer early on.

The failure to give this award, and a yellow card for pointing out that an Everton free kick was being taken in the wrong place can be added to his personal Goodison list of woe, already including a goal chalked off on his United debut and of course his serious pre-season injury in 1997. No wonder he looked relieved when he left the grund after the match. 

If we were as unentertaining up front as a flat-chested go-go dancer, at least in the midfield and at the back we showed more commitment than of late. The absence of Ferguson and an uncharacteristically fitful showing from Campbell probably aided our cause, but the return of Steve Caldwell was another vital ingredient in our taking a point from the game. The penalty incident was cruel luck for the lad, scuppering our hopes of a rare clean sheet and tarnishing his display. 

Put simply, Caldwell is everything that someone like Marcelino is not - not afraid to put in tackles where there is a risk of injury, cajoling his more experienced colleagues, organising the defence and generally giving the appearance of someone committed to the cause. Whether Goma was actually injured or Bobby was still fuming about his refusal to withdraw his transfer request isn't clear, but Caldwell once again proved a willing and able deputy to the big money boys.

Whether our improved solidity in midfield was due to the return of Robert Lee is also unclear, but Everton allowed us space in that area throughout the afternoon, and as the game wore on had more of a makeshift look, being deprived of Naysmith and Nyarko through injury before the halftime.

Former Hearts player Naysmith especially looked in some distress, falling when crossing from the left for Campbell to miss a virtual open goal. He lay clutching his leg before being treated by a posse of medics then stretchered off, Gravesen wandering over to comfort him and being forced to shield his eyes when seeing the extent of the damage (apparently a badly gashed leg.)   

Going back to the Everton penalty award, Bobby went bonkers afterwards, but TV replays and seeing it from behind a pillar in the away end proved inconclusive and Everton had created other goal scoring chances, only to spurn them.

To point to the penalty as denying us the three points in no way tells the story of this game. Two remarkably average sides were unable to raise themselves sufficiently to dominate the contest, and relied on alleged or real mistakes for their goals. Hardly the stuff of legend, and we can only be grateful that SKY opted not to show this forgettable game this time out.

The stop-start nature of of our season means that we now have another enforced break before Terry Venables comes to Tyneside with his gang of desperadoes. Rumours of returning players such as Speed and Cort may liven things up slightly, but at present we seem a long way removed from the side that carved up the smoggies on their own patch in October.

We're still looking for inspiration from somewhere, and with Dyer off the scene, could do with the lift that a new signing could bring. Failing that, arranging for a particularly bad decision to go against us in the early stages of the game could be useful, as it seems to take a sense to injustice to rouse the home fans into cheering the team on.

Having something to cheer of course is also handy.....  

Biffa

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