Everton (h) Premiership
| Date: Saturday 17th April 1999, Venue: St. James' Park Conditions: tbc |
|
|
Newcastle |
Everton |
|
|
1 - 3 |
|
| Half time: | 0 - 2 | |
| Score Sheet: | ||
(82)
(pen) Shearer
|
Campbell (1) Campbell (44) Gemmell (88) |
|
Teams |
||
|
Given Barton Griffin Hamann Hughes Beharall Lee Speed Shearer Ketsbaia Maric |
Myhre Weir Short Watson Ball Unsworth Hutchison Dacourt Gemmill Campbell Jeffers |
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| Substitutes: | ||
|
(55)
Saha for Maric |
Bakayoko
for Campbell (61) Cadamarteri for Jeffers (82) |
|
| Subs not used: | ||
|
Harper Pearce Andersson |
Gerrard Ward Degn |
|
| Bookings: | ||
Lee
|
Short
Gemmill |
|
| Dismissals: | ||
| None | None | |
|
Referee: Graham
Poll |
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|
Attendance:
36,775 |
||
Goals |
42
secs: Scott Gemmell found Don Hutchison who played the ball on to
Kevin Campbell. As debutant defender David
Beharall hesitated, the on-loan Toffee slotted home at the Gallowgate End
0-1
(32 mins: Myhre saved Alan Shearer's penalty)
44 mins: Francis
Jeffers centred for Kevin Campbell to send a low shot goalwards that
squirmed under Shay Given and into his net 0-2
Half time: Newcastle 0 Everton 2
82 mins:
David Unsworth tugged Alan Shearer's
shirt - and this time he netted the penalty 1-2
88 mins: Gemmell volley
1-3
Full time: Newcastle 1 Everton 3
We Said |
Ruud Gullit said:
"We played some excellent football
today, but the desire was not there and you cannot win without it. They were not
hungry. They did not have Everton's desire.
"I was particularly pleased with David Beharall but a few senior players
were not taking their responsibilities. Everton wanted to win this game and
deserved to do so. We can only be disappointed in ourselves and the players know
this.
"I don't point the finger but you need to
perform every week. Beharall had the desire, but he's only a young boy.
I'm particularly happy for him, I think he played an excellent game. But I
think that the rest have to look in the mirror."
They Said |
Walter
Smith:
"It's better than it was two games ago - we've
got two good wins. We were really disappointed with the one we lost to
Sheffield Wednesday at home where we played well and gave the game away.
But we've recovered well from that and even today's results went well for
us, so the home game against Charlton is a huge one for us.
"We've got the situation in our own hands with
two home games left. If we win those home games you are looking at 43
points. I think everybody sets their target at 40 points. It's difficult
to tell now because there are so many teams. That's us close to Sheffield
Wednesday and above Coventry again."
Stats |
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|
Waffle |
Times match report:
Given that Everton have conducted their season with all the grace of a demented
orchestra, it can hardly be surprising that alarm bells continue to echo in
their ears even when the baton is grasped by another. So it was that when Walter
Smith tiptoed into the media room at St James' Park, his quiet words of
satisfaction were silenced by a blaring fire siren.
The cause of this emergency was not immediately apparent, although the
suggestion was that Newcastle United had felt their fingers burnt, but the
interruption failed to provoke histrionics. Throughout Everton's calamitous
campaign, Smith has maintained a rare and impressive dignity; victory, even one
as significant as this, was not to prompt any noticeable change.
The reticence of the manager was not matched by his team's supporters, who, buoyed by the lack of progress made by those sides below them, celebrated with predictable gusto. Beating Charlton Athletic at Goodison Park next weekend - "Newcastle have got their Cup Final, but that's ours," Kevin Campbell said - would lift them to 40 points and probable safety.
The vibrancy of this performance serves only to make their harrowing travails all the more peculiar, although the arrival of Campbell, 29, on loan from Trabzonspor has added a muscular dynamism to their forward line.
A delicious through-ball was delivered by Don Hutchison after barely 40 seconds, allowing Campbell to out-sprint David Beharall, who was making his debut, and direct a firm shot beyond Shay Given. A more substantial reward came on the stroke of half-time, when, after good work by Francis Jeffers, Given failed to clutch Campbell's innocuous flick. Four goals in two games is not to be scoffed at.
Given's flapping was an accurate measure of Newcastle's day, a sullenness settling after the heroics of their FA Cup semi-final. Duncan Ferguson's sole involvement against his former employer was to telephone a local journalist to protest at his treatment in the morning newspapers, Silvio Maric wasted two gaping opportunities and, untypically, Alan Shearer could only convert one of two penalties.
"The desire wasn't there," Ruud Gullit, the manager, said. "It is like having a Ferrari and only using four gears. You might blow up the engine."
At the back, Newcastle remain delicate, racked with injury and nerves. Within 24 hours of Steve Howey, his centre half, being carried off on a stretcher at Old Trafford, Gullit was boarding a flight to France to hasten the signing of Alain Goma, the Paris Saint-Germain defender. The £3.5M transfer cannot be completed until the summer, however.
It had been expected that Everton's season would finish in similar, chaotic fashion, but Scot Gemmill's 20-yard drive in the 89th minute allows them to shape their own destiny. Hutchison, an exiled Geordie, spoke of sharing his relief. "My mum lives ten minutes round the corner, although as she's a Newcastle fan, I'm not sure how happy she'll be to see me," he said. Another set of eardrums ringing on Saturday night.
Biffa