Toffees v Toon - Always A Bitter Battle!
Last updated : 05 October 2007 By Footy Mad - Editor
2006/07 NEWCASTLE UTD 1 EVERTON 1
NEWCASTLE: Harper, Carr, Bramble, Moore, Ramage, Milner, Parker, Emre, N'Zogbia, Martins (Rossi 81), Ameobi (Sibierski 24).
Goals: Ameobi 14.
EVERTON: Howard, Hibbert, Yobo, Lescott,Naysmith (Nuno Valente 45), Osman, Neville, Carsley,Arteta (Beattie 90), Cahill, Johnson.
Goals: Cahill 41.
Att: 50,107
Tim Cahill preserved Everton's unbeaten run as his side came from a goal behind at Newcastle to claim a point.
The Australia midfielder powered home a 40th-minute header to cancel out Shola Ameobi's 14th-minute opener and ensure the Toffees headed home with something to show for their efforts.
But £10million Magpies striker Obafemi Martins was left to rue a series of missed opportunities to claim his first goal at St James' Park, perhaps the best of them on 71 minutes when he held off the hugely impressive Joleon Lescott, but shot straight at Tim Howard.Titus Bramble and Tony Hibbert were both sent off for second bookable offences as the game reached a tense conclusion in which the result could have gone either way.
It might all have been so different had Scott Parker who, along with Everton striker Andy Johnson was watched by England boss Steve McClaren among a crowd of 50,107, not seen a first-half lob saved by Howard.
However, had Steve Harper not atoned for his slip at Liverpool in midweek with two fine saves from Leon Osman as the clock ran down, Newcastle might have gone away empty-handed after taking the lead for the second successive home game.
The major debate on Tyneside in recent weeks has centred around two main topics: the lack of firepower and the continuing fragility in defence.
In both cases, the first half provided no conclusive answer to either question.
Ameobi's 14th-minute strike, aided by an outrageous offside decision, was his fourth of the season and suggested there are goals in Glenn Roeder's new-look strikeforce.
However, his departure with an injury 10 minutes later again exposed the lack of strength in depth.
Partner Martins was again lively, but squandered a glorious opportunity to claim his first home goal three minutes before the break when he dragged a shot wide, and that was to become something of a theme.
By that time, Cahill had put the visitors back on to level terms, although the Magpies again contributed to their own downfall.
Having worked hard to keep Andrew Johnson at bay, the home defence wilted on 40 minutes.
Craig Moore sliced a clearance out for a corner under pressure from the in-form Everton striker and, although his side cleared the initial cross, Mikel Arteta was allowed to feed the ball back in and the Australian rose unopposed at the far post to head home.
In an entertaining encounter, both sides played enterprising and often attractive football, and but for a fingertip save by Tim Howard, Parker would have put Newcastle 2-0 up with 26 minutes gone with a delicious lob.
Joseph Yobo more than once found himself at full stretch in the attempt to keep fellow Nigerian international Martins at bay, but there was little to choose between the sides as they walked off at half-time.
Newcastle started at a brisk pace again, and Parker had strong appeals for a penalty waved away after he had wormed his way into the box on 47 minutes.
Martins climbed superbly to get his head to an Emre free-kick a minute later, but Phil Neville hacked his downward header away before the black and white shirts could pounce.
However, the visitors were looking dangerous on the break and both Arteta and Cahill only just failed to put Johnson in as Newcastle were stretched.
But James Milner, who had started the game well, fired straight at Howard after playing a neat one-two with Martins, and the Nigerian perhaps should have scored on 62 minutes after being played in by the former Leeds midfielder.
Milner tested Howard with a curling free-kick two minutes later after Tony Hibbert's nasty challenge on Parker, which earned the defender a booking.
Martins earned himself a showdown with Howard 19 minutes from time when he managed to hold off Lescott, but he hit his shot straight at the big American.
Both sides were reduced to 10 men within two eventful minutes when first Bramble was sent off for a foul on Osman, his second bookable offence, and then Hibbert followed him down the tunnel when, after being cautioned for a foul on Parker, he repeated the dose on substitute Antoine Sibierski.
Harper pulled off a superb save with his legs to deny Osman seven minutes from time after Stephen Carr's loose pass had put him in, and then kept out another effort from the midfielder a minute from time.
Substitute Giuseppe Rossi forced a good save from Howard as the game headed into injury-time, but there was to be no late winner.
2005/06 NEWCASTLE UTD 2 EVERTON 0
NEWCASTLE: Given, Ramage, Boumsong, Elliott, Babayaro, Solano, Parker, Emre (Clark 79), N'Zogbia (Pattison 90), Bowyer, Ameobi.
Goals: Solano 64, 76.
EVERTON: Westerveld, Yobo, Stubbs, Weir, Nuno Valente, Osman,Arteta, Cahill (Carsley 74), Davies, Kilbane (McFadden 68), Beattie.
Att: 51,916
Nolberto Solano brought Everton's unbeaten Barclays Premiership run to an abrupt halt to hand Newcastle a fourth victory in five games under caretaker boss Glenn Roeder.
The Peruvian slid home Charles N'Zogbia's 64th-minute cross to open the scoring, and produced a stunning finish 14 minutes from time to take his goal tally for the season to five.
It was a strike of which injured skipper Alan Shearer would have been proud as David Moyes' men tasted defeat for the first time in eight league outings and only the second in 12 in all competitions.
But despite Turkish midfielder Emre twice having to clear David Weir headers off the line before the break, the Magpies were good value for their victory as they kept a fourth clean sheet under former defender Roeder to delight the bulk of a crowd of 51,916.
With Shearer's name once again missing from the team-sheet, the home fans arrived wondering where the goals were going to come from against a side which had won six and drawn one of their last seven league games.
On Wednesday night, the Magpies enjoyed more than their fair share of possession against Charlton, but failed to create enough chances to win the game, Shola Ameobi squandering the best of the 14 minutes from time.
Caretaker boss Roeder again asked Emre to provide the support to lone striker Ameobi but, in the event, his most crucial contributions in the opening 45 minutes came on his own goal-line.
Twice the former Inter Milan star hacked Weir headers off the line as a makeshift Newcastle defence, which was coping reasonably well in open play, lost their bearings from Mikel Arteta's corners.
It was the Spaniard too who forced Shay Given into his only save of the half with a minute remaining, the Irishman tipping a dipping free-kick over the bar as it sped towards him on a bitterly cold Tyneside wind.
However, for all that the visitors created three excellent chances to take the lead, the home side had more than their fair share of possession and might themselves have gone in ahead at the break.
Four opportunities fell to Lee Bowyer alone as he dragged a left-footed shot just wide, saw another effort deflected over and then fired across goal and headed over the top.
But Newcastle's best chance came in first-half injury-time when N'Zogbia escaped from Joseph Yobo on the left and squared for Solano, whose shot was palmed away by loan signing Sander Westerveld in the Everton goal.
But having finished the first half strongly, the home side started the second beset by a strange lethargy as the visitors pinned them back again.
That changed when Scott Parker and Solano combined well on the edge of the Everton box before the Peruvian found Ameobi, although his shot was charged down.
As play switched quickly from end to end, Leon Osman saw the whites of Given's eyes two minutes later, but his right-footed snap-shot flew wide of the keeper's left post.
There was little to choose between the sides, although Bowyer might have done better with a first-time effort after N'Zogbia had cut out Yobo's clearance and played the ball into his run on 59 minutes.
Elliott had to block a Tim Cahill shot after Celestine Babayaro had neglected his defensive duties, but the breakthrough finally came at the other end with 64 minutes gone.
Emre did well on the left to hold the ball up and the lay it into N'Zogbia's path, and the Frenchman cut into the box before delivering the perfect low cross for Solano to slide home the opener from close range.
It could have been 2-0 within seven minutes when, after Westerveld had prevented Bowyer from finishing off a flowing attack, Parker thumped a volley just wide from the resulting corner.
Tim Cahill, who had earlier been injured in a challenge with Parker, was replaced by Lee Carsley with 16 minutes remaining, but the home side were pushing to kill the game off.
And they did so in superb style with 14 minutes remaining when Bowyer rolled the ball into Solano's path and the South American curled a shot beyond Arteta with the outside of his right foot.
Yobo might have pulled one back with an 86th-minute header from Arteta's free-kick, and James Beattie fired wide at the death, but the clean sheet was just reward for a committed team performance.
2004/05 NEWCASTLE UTD 1 EVERTON 1
NEWCASTLE: Given, Taylor, Bramble, Hughes, Bernard, Jenas, Dyer, Bowyer (Ameobi 81), Robert, Bellamy, Kluivert.
Goals: Bellamy 5.
EVERTON: Martyn, Hibbert, Stubbs, Weir, Pistone, Cahill (Watson 86), Osman, Gravesen (Yobo 90), Carsley, Kilbane, Bent (Ferguson 88).
Goals: Carsley 56.
Att: 51,247
Lee Carsley kept Everton's unlikely Champions League ambitions on track - and dented Newcastle's hopes with a superb equaliser.
Carsley curled home an exquisite 56th-minute free-kick to deny the Magpies victory after Craig Bellamy had fired them ahead in the fifth minute.
David Moyes will feel his team deserved their point after another battling display, but the Magpies had more than enough opportunities to have won the game and will be desperately disappointed not to have collected a third successive victory.
Both Jermaine Jenas and Bellamy hit the woodwork and Everton keeper Nigel Martyn saved well from Laurent Robert, Jenas and Olivier Bernard, but they were denied what they felt was a clear-cut penalty by referee Neale Barry and Bellamy blasted a late effort straight at Alessandro Pistone with the goal at his mercy.
Magpies boss Graeme Souness went into the game without injured skipper Alan Shearer and midfielder Nicky Butt, who failed a late fitness test on a niggling hamstring problem.
However, he knew he had cover both in attack and midfield; where he did not was at the back, where his problems deepened before kick-off when Robbie Elliott (knee) and Ronny Johnsen (groin) joined Stephen Carr and Andy O'Brien on the sidelines.
The Scot had to rely on Titus Bramble, Aaron Hughes and Bernard and threw in youngster Steven Taylor and their response could hardly have been more impressive.
Taylor shone in a hugely creditable first 45 minutes for Newcastle. Only at the death did they wobble, goalkeeper Shay Given having to block an Alan Stubbs effort and then Tim Cahill back-heeling wide from close range.
But the defenders set the tone for the Magpies, who went at Everton with a real relish which could have seen them wrap up the points by half-time.
It took them five minutes to go ahead, Bellamy playing a one-two with strike partner Patrick Kluivert before racing away and blasting his shot past Nigel Martyn from 17 yards.
With Kieron Dyer, playing in the wide right midfield position, and Robert creating havoc and Jenas and Lee Bowyer dominating in the middle, they repeatedly tore holes in the Everton rearguard.
Martyn kept out a skidding Robert free-kick and then pulled off a fine stop to deny Jenas after he too had exchanged passes with Kluivert.
However, he needed the help of the woodwork in the 29th minute when Jenas latched on to a bouncing ball inside the penalty area and acrobatically smashed a shot against the crossbar.
Kluivert saw a goal-bound effort hacked off the line by Stubbs before Everton rallied briefly, but the momentum was definitely with the Magpies.
They could, and should, have made sure of the points within nine minutes of the restart as chances came and went.
Bernard tested Martyn with a rising drive and Dyer fired into the side-netting after being played in by Kluivert.
However, it was Kluivert who was most guilty, shooting high over after being picked out on the edge of the box by Bellamy on 54 minutes.
Inevitably, they were made to pay for their misses when the sucker punch was delivered two minutes later.
Hughes was penalised for a foul on Marcus Bent just outside the box and Carsley curled a fine free-kick over the wall and past Given to level.
Bellamy almost restored his side's lead on 59 minutes when his dipping shot clipped the post, and the home fans were appealing in vain for a penalty on 70 minutes after Taylor appeared to be tripped by former Magpie Pistone.
However, the home side had an escape five minutes later when Thomas Gravesen slid the ball in behind Bramble for Bent to round the advancing Given, although he shot wide from a tight angle.
The Magpies dominated possession as the clock ran down but too often over-complicated things in their efforts to break through the massed ranks of blue.
They were were appealing for a spot-kick once again six minutes from time when Dyer went down under Kevin Kilbane's challenge, but Barry was not interested.
Bellamy could have won it a minute from time after being set up by Kluivert, but despite taking all the time he needed to pick his spot, he fired straight at Pistone, and it took a good saved from Given to keep out Leon Osman's goal-bound effort.
2003/04 NEWCASTLE 4 EVERTON 2NEWCASTLE: Given, Hughes, Woodgate, Bramble, Bernard, Ambrose (Bowyer 75), Dyer, Speed, Robert (Ameobi 84), Bellamy, Shearer.
Goals: Bellamy 5, Dyer 21, Shearer 52, 90.
EVERTON: Martyn, Naysmith, Yobo, Unsworth, Pistone, Watson, Linderoth (Nyarko 68), Gravesen, Kilbane (McFadden 68), Radzinski, Campbell.
Goals: Gravesen 12, Yobo 81.
Att: 42,155
Newcastle's big guns came up with the goods when their side needed them most to drag the Magpies back into the top four of the Barclaycard Premiership.
Craig Bellamy, Kieron Dyer and inevitably Alan Shearer all weighed in with goals to beat Everton and send Sir Bobby Robson's men back into the Champions League places, for 24 hours at least, at the expense of Liverpool.
Bellamy needed just four minutes to take his tally for the season to nine, and after Thomas Gravesen had levelled, Dyer scored his first league goal since February last year to restore their lead.
Everton hit the crossbar through Joseph Yobo a minute after the restart, but Shearer struck six minutes later, capitalising on the defender's error to claim his 25th of the season and ease the tension in front of an expectant crowd of 52,155.
Yobo's 81st-minute header set the alarm bells ringing again, but Shearer did the trick in the final minute to ensure the points remained on Tyneside.
Having seen his side drastically under-perform in their 1-0 defeat at Bolton on Sunday, Robson held a meeting with his player.
The message appeared to have got through as his men conjured up an enterprising, if at times patchy, opening 45 minutes.
But there were a few negatives as they started shakily at the back and allowed Gravesen to draw the visitors level before tightening things up.
The home side could hardly have got off to a better start when Bellamy raced on to Shearer's knock-down before holding off David Unsworth and expertly rounding Nigel Martyn to open the scoring with only four minutes gone.
However, the visitors hit back within eight minutes after Tomasz Radzinski was allowed time and space down the left to pull the ball back for Gravesen who, with Dyer trailing, thumped a first-time shot past Shay Given.
Order was restored on 21 minutes when Dyer, who had earlier missed a good chance at the near post, played a ball out to Darren Ambrose and then made his way into the penalty area to head his cross past Martyn.
Newcastle could have put the result beyond doubt before the break had they not continually conceded possession, and while Radzinski and Kevin Campbell extended Jonathan Woodgate and Titus Bramble there was always a chance of an Everton fightback.
That almost came with less than a minute into the second half when, after Newcastle old boy Steve Watson earned the visitors a corner, he got up at the near post to flick on Kevin Kilbane's cross for Yobo to send a volley into the turf and across the crossbar.
Campbell and Watson both just failed to get on the end of a 51st-minute Tobias Linderoth cross seconds after Ambrose had fired wide at the other end, but as the nerves started to jangle, Shearer provided the sedative.
Speed and Campbell flew into a no-holds-barred challenge on halfway and the ball flew towards the Newcastle captain and Yobo, who took his eye off it to allow the 33-year-old to home in on goal and, after calmly drawing Martyn, make it 3-1.
Everton continued to battle away, but Newcastle, feeling they had drawn their sting, settled into a comfort zone knowing the hard work had been done.
Things might have been a little different, however, had Kilbane hit the target with a firm header from a 64th-minute Gary Naysmith corner, and Watson appeared unfortunate to be given offside as he headed home three minutes later.
The visitors got their reward nine minutes from time when Yobo took advantage of some slack marking to make it 3-2, but there was to be no twist in the tail as Shearer made sure of the points at the end.
2002/03 NEWCASTLE UTD 2 EVERTON 1NEWCASTLE: Given, Griffin, O'Brien, Caldwell (Ameobi 81), Bernard, Solano, Dyer, Speed (Viana 81), Robert, Shearer, Bellamy.
Goals: Shearer 86, Bellamy 89.
EVERTON: Wright, Hibbert, Yobo, Stubbs, Unsworth, Carsley (Weir 24), Tie Li, Gravesen, Pembridge, Campbell, Radzinski (Rooney 73).
Goals: Campbell 17.
Att: 51,607
Newcastle's Champions League villains paid off their debt in thrilling fashion as Alan Shearer's sensational volley and Craig Bellamy's fortunate winner fired their side to victory over 10-man Everton.
Sir Bobby Robson's side had trailed to Kevin Campbell's goal from the 17th minute and, even though they dominated throughout and especially after Joseph Yobo's dismissal for a trip on Bellamy, they looked as if they were about to become another notch on the Toffees' belt of 1-0 wins.
However, in whirlwind last four minutes, Shearer thundered home his 101st Premiership goal for his hometown club with a viciously struck volley and then saw Bellamy rekindle memories of Rotterdam with a deflected 89th-minute winner to scupper Everton's hopes of climbing the league table.
The late show preserved United's run of never having lost a league game after a Champions League encounter and, although the visitors will be desperately disappointed to have had victory snatched from their grasp at the death, the Magpies were value for their win despite failing to make the most of their possession until the final few minutes.
Desperate to erase the memory of Wednesday night's drubbing by Inter Milan, United went for the jugular as Shearer, the impressive Kieron Dyer, Bellamy and Laurent Robert launched themselves at Everton.
With luck and a little more accuracy, they could have been home and dry by half-time as the visitors, hampered by the loss of central defender Yobo in the 22nd minute, were forced to endure a torrent.
That they withstood them was no surprise after a run of five successive 1-0 wins in the Premiership, Alan Stubbs and substitute David Weir, introduced at Lee Carsley's expense after Yobo's departure, in particular shining in another resolute defensive display.
To make matters worse for the home side, a seemingly endless wave of Newcastle attacks was punctuated by Campbell's customary goal at St James' Park as he escaped from defender Steve Caldwell to collect David Unsworth's long ball on his chest and poke a shot between the legs of the advancing Shay Given.
Newcastle's response was swift as Dyer, Robert and Nolberto Solano set about the task of stretching the 10 men but, although they found space and time to feed front men Shearer and Bellamy, they discovered, if they needed to be told, that Everton's renowned stubbornness is no myth.
United might have been awarded a penalty after Bellamy appeared to be pushed by Stubbs and then tripped by Tony Hibbert before the goal, and the Welsh international - sent off against Inter Milan - saw a firm shot blocked by Richard Wright after Shearer had flicked a long ball on.
The Toffees keeper made up for a scuffed 20th-minute clearance to Dyer by saving well when the England midfielder returned the ball at pace, and then pulled off a superb stop to keep out Shearer's blistering header form a 34th-minute Robert corner.
Dyer shot wide from 18 yards after being set up by Solano six minutes before the break and then Bellamy was inches away from getting a touch to Dyer's driven cross in first-half injury-time as Everton's resistance started to wane.
The second half unfolded in much the same fashion as the first as Newcastle hammered away at Everton but could not find a way past the massed ranks of blue.
Bellamy skipped past Thomas Gravesen on the edge of the box on 55 minutes and fired towards goal, where Stubbs hacked clear and then Gary Speed drove high over from 20 yards.
Olivier Bernard almost handed Tomasz Radzinski a chance with a weak header back to Given, but Andy Griffin went agonisingly close on the hour after Bellamy picked him out on the edge of the penalty area.
Wright blocked a firmly-struck effort from Solano and Robert whistled a shot wide, but the feeling that it was not going to be the Magpies' day grew on 69 minutes when Dyer crossed for Shearer at the near post and the ball hit his left leg and dribbled harmlessly wide.
The introduction of Wayne Rooney in place of Radzinski with 17 minutes remaining added further spice, but the emphasis was on defence as Newcastle made one final push.
Defender Andy O'Brien sent a header inches wide from Griffin's 81st-minute cross, and Robson made his final play seconds later as Caldwell and Speed made way for Shola Ameobi and Hugo Viana.
But little could a crowd of 51,607 have expected the game to end as it did.
There were only four minutes remaining when Ameobi headed down Robert's long ball for Shearer to send a volley screaming past the helpless Wright and into the net.
But there was more to come when Bellamy once again got on the wrong side of the Everton defence and, with the help of deflections from Li Tie and Wright, squeezed the ball inside the near post to complete a remarkable victory.