Everton: Southall, Barrett, Hinchcliffe, Short, Watson,
Williamson, Stuart, Speed, Ferguson, Cadamarteri (Ball 87), Oster
(McCann 9).
Subs Not Used: Gerrard, Phelan, Barmby.
Booked: Stuart, Cadamarteri, Barrett.
Goals: Cadamarteri 75, Ruddock 45 og.
Liverpool: James, Kvarme, McAteer, McManaman, Fowler, Riedle
(Owen 50), Ruddock, Berger (Leonhardsen 56), Thomas, Ince,
Bjornebye.
Subs Not Used: Nielson, Harkness, Wright.
Booked: Kvarme, Thomas, Owen.
Att: 40,112
Ref: M D Reed (Birmingham).
[PA-Report] [Telegraph-report] [Guardian-report] [Times-report]
Danny Cadamarteri's stunning strike 15 minutes from time ensured that Everton restored their battered pride with a rousing Merseyside derby victory over Liverpool at Goodison Park.
Everton went to war and Liverpool could not cope. It was billed as the biggest mismatch in years with Liverpool on a roll and Everton reeling from their 4-1 Coca-Cola Cup defeat at Coventry in midweek. But Everton, stung by criticisms from boss Howard Kendall, produced a performance of pride and passion to maintain their proud recent record against the arch enemy.
Everton took the lead on the stroke of half-time when Andy Hinchcliffe's corner was flicked on by Speed and turned into his own net by Neil Ruddock. And Cadamarteri conjured up a thrilling clincher. The 18-year-old chased and dispossessed Kvarme on the left, ran on, cut inside Ruddock and drilled a low shot inside James' right hand post. Goodison Park erupted, the likely lad from Bradford was buried under a mountain of delirious colleagues, and Liverpool were finished.
Everton's defenders had done their bit and their midfield
battlers were a match for Paul Ince and Co, but it was little
Cadamarteri who stole the
show again. When he went off to a standing ovation two minutes
from time, he even won a handshake of approval from Ruddock.
Everton were playing keep ball at the end, to rapturous applause
from their fans, as they cruised to victory. Kendall's men were
in the relegation zone before then game but by the end the raw
guts that Kendall had been demanding was there for all to see.
Liverpool have not won a derby at Goodison Park since 1990, and now none of the last seven anywhere. Everton produced a first half of commitment and fire that was in sharp contrast to the nightmare at Coventry the previous Wednesday, when their display enraged Kendall so much he branded them passionless and unwilling.
But the same players, with Neville Southall restored in goal, went at Liverpool with more than enough passion to have the Goodison faithful roaring. Gary Speed in midfield, Dave Watson and Craig Short at the back, and the snarling menace of Duncan Ferguson up front gave Everton the upper hand. If all that was not enough for Liverpool, they had to contend with the scampering skills of Cadamarteri and John Oster's instinctive control and passing. All afternoon the ball was tossed in at Ferguson and he won virtually everything.
Early on he fed Cadamarteri, who hooked wide, and then Graham Stuart hacked wildly over after another towering header from the giant Scot. The expected early bookings went to Bjorn Kvarme for blocking a Cadamarteri run, and then Stuart for his third assault on a red shirt inside a couple of minutes. Liverpool efforts were rare in the first half, one fell to Karlheinz Riedle, and he flicked it wide from six yards, and then Robbie Fowler hoisted one wide after Steve McManaman's fine run and pass.
But it was still Everton who looked the most likely, and Cadamarteri chased and caught keeper David James as he dallied with the ball at his feet, and almost embarrassed the Liverpool man. Everton should have scored when James spilled Oster's shot, Ferguson's effort was blocked by the 'keeper and Cadamarteri hooked over an open goal.
The second half saw Michael Owen on for Riedle, and Oyvind Leonhardsen for Berger as Roy Evans tried to inject pace into attack and steel into midfield. Liverpool stepped it up, and Southall made brave saves at the feet of McManaman and then Fowler. But Everton could have scored again when Short went on a rampaging run, found Cadamarteri, with the resulting shot being blocked twice by James. Cadamarteri also got away on the right to create an opening for Oster but the Welshman flashed wide.
Liverpool upped the tempo, tried desperately to pen Everton in, but the blue shirts survived. Oster was withdrawn to allow Gavin McCann to enter the midfield fireworks. But as Liverpool tried to batter their way back into the game old hands like Watson and Short stood firm.
Howard Kendall hailed the men he slaughtered in midweek after Everton's Mersey derby triumph today. Everton chief Kendall witnessed a stunning improvement on the disgrace at Coventry in the Coca-Cola Cup and said: "What I saw at Coventry was just not good enough.
"This time I witnessed a display that was almost everything I could have asked for. It was pleasing for me, the players, the club and most importantly the fans."
Liverpool chief Roy Evans now has to plan for a UEFA Cup clash in Strasbourg on Tuesday, knowing his team were outfought and humbled in their own city. He said: "I don't want anyone to say that our game on Tuesday had any effect on this result. "That is no excuse at all. What upset me is that we were not prepared toplay our own game. That is what we are good at. "While we were trying to battle and fight with them, we were not able to play our passing game. That was just not good enough, we got what we deserved. "It took us 20 minutes even to string a couple of passes together. I'm very disappointed. People say we should win these derbies, but it hasn't happened in recent years."
Kendall added: "What I want now is to see a consistency of performance. At home our fans have seen some good displays, but away from home it's different. I want to see us take this on and send our fans back from an away game happy. "There is no doubt we can play, but we have to realise you must fight andwin the right to dominate a match. "The players have had to endure not the best publicity over the last fewdays, and their response was what I was looking for."
Skipper Gary Speed said: "That was my first derby as captain, and I felt we got stuck in and deserved the win. "We got stuck in, won the right to play, and were the better side. And thesecond goal from Danny Cadamarteri was a gem. He has done so well since he got into the side."
Victory in Royle tradition
By Clive White
Everton (1) 2 Liverpool (0) 0
HOWARD Kendall bought himself some time yesterday. Everton's beleagured manager has won a few Merseyside derbies during his three stints with the club, but few more important than this one, which the exciting 18-year-old, Danny Cadamarteri, sealed with a goal and a performance which earned him a standing ovation when substituted with three minutes remaining.
It may have been seven years since Liverpool last triumphed at Goodison Park and seven derby games, home or away, since they last won at all. But that only served to increase the pressure on Kendall. It was bad enough that Everton should be down among the dead men in the Premiership without the spectre of the former manager's record hovering over him. Joe Royle may not have succeeded in making the club great again, but he did win derby matches and that's half the battle on Merseyside.
Kendall called for passion of the kind which set up that admirable record "from much the same players". Graham Stuart perhaps misconstrued the message and was booked within three minutes for a wreckless foul on Patrik Berger. This was followed a minute later by a booking for Liverpool's Bjorn Tore Kvarme for a cynical foul on Danny Cadamarteri. Referee Mike Reed had decided it would not be passion at any cost.
Gradually the football surfaced and inevitably it was Steve McManaman who showed the way as if galvanised - or was it goaded? - by events in Rome. A non-starter for England he may have been, but not for much longer on this form. His willingness to run at people led to three excellent chances for Robbie Fowler (twice) and Karl-Heinz Riedle, but none were taken.
About the nearest Everton had come to scoring was when David James casually idled over a back-pass and was almost caught in possession by Cadamarteri.
He just managed to avoid calamity on that occasion, but on the stroke of half-time he was not so lucky. In the space of a few seconds he made a stupendous close-range save from Stuart as the Scot wheeled dangerously on Liverpool's defence, but from Andy Hinchliffe's corner he completely missed the ball and Neil Ruddock, flummoxed, headed the ball into his own net.
The goal energised Everton and suddenly the commitment that has been absent on far too many recent occasions was everywhere one looked. A goal-line clearance looked suspiciously over the line following a header by Liverpool's rallying captain, Paul Ince, but no one could begrudge Everton the victory they eventually wrapped up when Cadamarteri dispossessed Kvarme before cutting inside to score.
Kendall triumphs over trials
Ian Ross sees a troubled man beam with relief at his
team's deserved derby victory
Saturday October 18, 1997
Football being the uncaring, vindictive sport that it often is, there are few more rewarding sights than that of a vindicated man heady on the sweet drug of relief.
After almost wrestling with the less compliant members of his team in the dismal aftermath of last Wednesday's display at Coventry City, the Everton manager Howard Kendall spent much of what he conceded was a "long and uncomfortable" night in protracted combat with his own conscience.
Confident man and a most accomplished manager he might be, but Kendall is not immune to human frailties. As he picked through the rotting remains of a despicable performance, he will have fallen prey to the greatest of managerial enemies, self-doubt.
"I knew we would play better against Liverpool; we had to because we really could not have played any worse than we did at Coventry," he said.
Kendall's demeanour after Saturday's game was that of a humble man content with his day at the office, but his eyes were ablaze with passion. What he really wanted to do was climb to the highest rooftop and scream: "I told you so."
Improbably, Everton tore their neighbours to shreds and, but for the sense of calm that Steve McManaman instilled into Liverpool's always pedestrian football in the latter stages, the final margin would surely have been far greater.
It is plain that Liverpool have come to loathe these parochial affairs, and they were swept away like so many sandcastles before an onrushing tide. It was more surrender than defeat.
If appearing in these games is not much fun - and the players say that it is not - then watching them can also be murder.
Bone-jarring challenges and flying elbows are an inherent part of derby fixtures from Merseyside to Milan and they are invariably deemed permissible simply because to outlaw them would defuse the element of tribal warfare that is crucial to the magnetism of such events.
Take the events of the 15th minute, if you will. Ugly pockets of friction had been developing since the afternoon's first kick and a mist of anger was already hanging heavy in the air when Duncan Ferguson and Jason McAteer met down on the touchline. The tackle - a genuine 50-50 affair, would you believe - was simply thunderous. Both men survived but less than a heartbeat later Paul Ince, the self-styled enforcer of Liverpool's "we are stars so don't touch us" policy, enticed Ferguson into an identical challenge. You could almost hear Ferguson's fillings rattling from the main stand.
Ferguson was in the mood to play and he subsequently became a persistent threat to the Liverpool defence. Rather strangely the quick but slight Bjorn Kvarme was detailed to shadow him rather than the slower but more muscular Neil Ruddock.
"Duncan was awesome today but you don't want a No. 9 who only does it in the big games," Kendall said pointedly. Ferguson chipped in with much as Liverpool were outplayed, overrun and ultimately humiliated. Indeed, the sight of Everton arrogantly playing keep-ball in the dying moments as those bedecked in red filed to the exits was the day's abiding memory.
Beyond that there were the magnificent contributions of the Everton captains past and present, Dave Watson and Gary Speed, and then there was Danny Cadamarteri - or Cadamagic as he seems to have become known. Only 18 and attacking football's learning curve as an infant hamster does a wheel, Cadamarteri was terrific, sprinting clear of the fallen Kvarme with 15 minutes remaining to score a stunning goal and so confirm Everton's victory.
The Liverpool manager Roy Evans could have argued that Earl Barrett appeared to beat an Ince header off the line with his hand and that Ruddock was unfortunate to turn Andy Hinchcliffe's corner into his own net in first-half stoppage time. To his credit, Evans did not.
"We got precisely what we deserved: nothing at all," was his harsh yet realistic assessment of a defeat that has done precious little to help him keep his job after this season ends. "We simply forgot to play," he added ruefully.
Kevin Connolly at Goodison Park
Everton 2 Liverpool 0
IN AN open and emotional Merseyside derby, Everton saw off their old rivals and re-established credibility with their fans after the meek surrender at Coventry City in the Coca-Cola Cup in midweek. Delighted Evertonians left saluting a teenage hero, Danny Cadamarteri, who created the first goal and scored the decisive second.
Howard Kendall, the Everton manager, who also restored 39-year-old Neville Southall in goal, had picked Cadamarteri ahead of Nick Barmby as Duncan Ferguson's striking partner, and his faith in the 18-year-old was vindicated.
"Danny really caught the eye in his first derby," beamed Everton's manager. "He's strong, direct, gets in where it hurts, and took the second goal superbly."
The result lifted Everton out of the bottom three and banished the gloomy headlines of recent days. "This was a totally different performance from the one at Coventry," said Kendall. "It's changed the mood in the club. It was great for the fans and gives us something to build on."
If Cadamarteri was the decisive figure, rarely had Steve McManaman laboured so well with so little response from his colleagues. As for David James and his back line, two of them looked like carbon copies of the bunch who let last season's title hopes slip away.
"It was an unacceptable display. We didn't deserve anything," admitted Roy Evans, the Liverpool manager.
Both teams played 4-4-2. The difference was that Everton played with a consuming passion Liverpool could not match.
Ferguson's hulking presence in attack clearly unsettled the visitors' defence. Beside him was Cadamarteri, who was full of eager running. Neil Ruddock and Bjorn Kvarme knew he was about, all right.
Graham Stuart's early lunges at Michael Thomas and Patrik Berger showed Everton's intent. The crowd were hyped up. So were the Everton players and Liverpool finally wobbled under the sheer physical pressure their hosts put them under.
Everton had been practising their offside trap, too, although they almost paid for it when Robbie Fowler timed his run precisely on to Stig Inge Bjornebye's through-ball. Then McManaman took the stage, cutting inside to create a chance that Fowler surprisingly miscued. Karlheinz Riedle soon repeated the miss from another McManaman cross.
Everton's methods were direct knock the ball up to Ferguson, then rush in behind him. The Scot won plenty in the air, as expected. He also revealed a delicate touch. One pass released Cadamarteri for a wayward shot. Another found teenager John Oster in full stride. James palmed out the youngster's curling shot and Ferguson's follow-up.
At the other end Dave Watson and Craig Short threw themselves into winning tackles on Fowler. Twice Short set the Evertonians roaring with surging dribbles out of defence. Short's block on Fowler's shot was timely, too.
McManaman, escaping Stuart and Earl Barrett, was the instigator again. Rarely have Liverpool so often failed to capitalise on McManaman's creativity.
And they paid for their profligacy as half-time approached. Andy Hinchcliffe swung over a corner, Cadamarteri rose with James, the ball brushed the goalkeeper's knuckles, hit the unsuspecting Ruddock and dropped agonisingly into the net. "We just did not defend the corner properly," said Evans afterwards.
In the second half, Stuart sat tight on McManaman. No way would Everton let him roam free now.
James, back-pedalling, just managed to grab Short's header. Suddenly, memories of last spring had returned to haunt the Liverpool goalkeeper. Everton pressed relentlessly all over the pitch. It was not pretty, but it was effective. When Michael Owen, on as substitute, flattened Stuart, that seemed to symbolise Liverpool's irritation.
Thomas put McManaman through and Southall's crucial dive at his feet was a save from the memory banks. By now McManaman was roving inside, trying to break free of Stuart. It was Danny Williamson's job to pick him up. McManaman left him standing and split Everton's defence, only for Owen to shoot wide of Southall's goal.
But Liverpool always looked vulnerable. Oster almost punished them with a flashing shot after Cadamarteri had turned Kvarme.
Another surging run by Short set up Cadamarteri, but this time Kvarme threw his body in the way. The tempo was frantic, which suited Everton more than Liverpool.
With 15 mintues remaining, Liverpool finally committed suicide. Kvarme dawdled, the livewire Cadamarteri robbed him, ran on and coolly beat the advancing James. "Everton we love you" sang their jubilant fans. At least they will until the next game.
This was a special Everton display, pumped full of adrenaline. Surely they cannot bring such emotional energy to their next 28 League games. If they cannot, what will Evertonians say then?
As Kendall said after this crucial win: "Now we will have to show more consistency, especially away from home."
As for Liverpool, their defensive fallibility was at times alarming. Teams who concede goals like they did do not win championships.
Everton: Southall, Barrett, Hinchcliffe, Short, Watson,
Williamson, Stuart, Speed, Ferguson, Cadamarteri (Ball 87min),
Oster (McCann 67min).
Goalscorers: Ruddock og 45, Cadamarteri 75
Booked: Stuart (4min); Cadamarteri (42min).
Liverpool: James, Kvarme, McAteer, Ruddock, Bjornebye, Thomas,
Ince, McManaman, Berger (Leonhardsen 56min), Fowler, Riedle (Owen
50min).
Booked: Kvarme (5min); Thomas (71min); Owen (89min).