In a hard working performance, Liverpool maintained their recent good record at Goodison Park to move back above the Blues in the hunt for a Champions League place. Great goals from Owen and Murphy silenced the bitter home fans who saw an under strength Reds side prove just how ordinary their team is.
The once friendly derby has gone sour in recent years and whereas it once would have been ok to drink in County Road beforehand it is now clearly inadvisable for Reds fans. That meant my afternoon started in the Albert and we worked our way down Walton Breck Road towards the Pit, not surprisingly coming across more Blues the nearer we got.
In the Stanley, a Blue woman claimed that Dixie's statue had been draped in Red that morning and we wouldn't be laughing when she put her Man United scarf around our Shankly memorial. She bitterly said that she wouldn't waste an Everton one on the 'old bastard'.
Goodison itself is now by far the worst ground in the Premiership, with the Lower Bullens being a complete embarrassment. This is 4th successive season I've been there and each time the view from my seat has got progressively worse. Six posts obstructed my view and if the ball rose ten feet above the ground the upper tier meant I was unable to see it and had to gauge its position by following the player's eyes.
If this was a normal ticket, I'd hate to have been in one of the seats marked 'obstructed view'. Signs all over the place said 'Foul and abusive language = no entry to Goodison', so imagine my surprise when David Moyes came out of the tunnel to take his place in the dugout.
It was very much a makeshift Liverpool side, with Biscan and Traore in central defence. Heskey kept his place on the wing with Diouf having to be content with a place on the bench despite recovering from a shin injury. Things went from bad to worse defensively for Liverpool on 7 minutes when Biscan picked up an injury and Diao came on. Carragher moved into the centre with the Senegal international slotting in at right back. Then Dudek developed a groin problem that limited his kicking but he was able to remain on the field.
As expected Everton tore into us from the start. But Rooney was easily contained and they were restricted to long range efforts. Referee Durkin did as much as he could to help their cause, advancing a free kick on one occasion and allowing Campbell to floor Dudek when they took a corner. With the Big Pole still picking himself up, a shot was hooked in but Carragher was on had to clear off the line.
This incident was the only real scare for the Reds in the opening 20 minutes and with Everton running out of steam a little we began to assert our authority more. On the half hour Owen put us ahead after being fed by Riise. With a quick burst of acceleration, Yobo and Gravesen were left for dead before Wright was beaten at the near post.
The ball appeared to have gone behind and nobody in the away section celebrated immediately. But the fact that the whole Reds team were mobbing Owen hinted that it had actually gone in the net. There was a split second of silence in which the consequences of this sank in before utter delirium broke out amongst the Reds support.
This was the trigger for a barrage of songs aimed at the seething Park End, including the obvious '1-0 in your cup final' and excellent 'You've got no history'. However 'Rooney's ma is on the brown' was below the belt and sinking to their levels. Remember how we condemned them for the Fowler chants? Two wrongs don't make a right.
There was only one team in it for the rest of the first half and it wasn't Everton. Heskey had a shot go wide and a cross to Owen in the box was cut out just in time. But Houllier's half time team talk was obviously along the lines of 'one goal is enough as long as you don't concede'.
Hence the Reds came out for the second half to sit on the lead and could have paid a heavy price. After 51 minutes Gravesen had a shot that went inches wide and on 57 minutes Carragher carelessly brought down Naysmith. There were no doubts about the penalty decision and Unsworth crashed the kick into the top corner.
Liverpool got what they deserved for sitting back and defeat looked a real possibility as Everton were revitalised. But we managed to force ourselves out of our shell and on the hour won our first corner of the game. This came to nothing but a minute later Baros headed over from a Rise free kick. Then on 64 minutes a piece of individual brilliance from Murphy restored the lead. 25 yards out he curled a beautiful shot into the top corner that hit the post and bounced in to the net.
If Wright could have done more for the first goal, he had no chance with this one and the Reds players raced over to congratulate Murphy who was celebrating in front of the Reds support. Everton had no answer to this and Liverpool kept pressing looking for the killer goal. Almost straight from the restart, Murphy volleyed from distance but the ball was beaten away by Wright.
Houllier signalled that lessons had been learnt and he intended to seek a third rather than sit back by sending on Diouf for Baros. Everton, on the other hand, resorted to desperate measures by sending on ageing crock Fergsuon, in the vain hope that his mere presence would scare us. It didn't.Shortly after this a Blue fan ran on to the pitch for no apparent reason.
He wasn't a streaker as he was fully clothed and he also didn't seem to want to confront a player. But in the confusion the play continued as a steward gave chase, only to be hilariously tackled by Riise. The moral of this was quite clear though. Blues resistance had broken and the fan saw no reason to continue watching the game.
They never showed any signs of grabbing an equaliser and in desperation pumped high balls into the box aimed at Ferguson, which Dudek easily gathered. The fact that Blues in the Park End were leaving with 10 minutes still to go was further proof that we had them in our pockets.
A special mention has to be made for Traore, who has received unjustified criticism from some quarters all season. He may not have been too effective on the left but he is a more than capable centre back and contained Rooney with ease all afternoon. The Croxteth fatty will be a great player (but probably not for Everton) but was overwhelmed by the pace of this encounter, hardly getting a kick.
If anyone was going to score near the end it was Liverpool, with Murphy going close after a great run in which he nutmegged two Blues defenders before his shot was gathered up by Wright.
Hardly a Blue was left in the ground when Naysmith became their second player to be sent off for a second bookable offence and there was a ring of boos around the ground at the end. Liverpool's fans on the other hand stayed behind for a good 5 to 10 minutes to celebrate the best win of the season. All the players and coaching staff came over to acknowledge what had been magnificent support and receive thanks for what had been a magnificent fighting display.
It may not have been a great performance, but we dug in and fought for the right to play the ball along the ground. Having failed to win at any of the other sides in the top 7 this season, it was a crucial victory. With Chelsea losing at Villa, it put Champions League qualification back in our own hands again, so let's hope we don't fuck up and can salvage something from this roller coaster season.
TEAM: Jerzy Dudek; Jamie Carragher, Igor Biscan (Salif Diao), Djimi Traore, John Arne Riise; Emile Heskey, Didi Hamann, Steven Gerrard, Danny Murphy; Milan Baros (El Hadji Diouf), Michael Owen:
