Merseyside Derby is a Dowdy Affair

Tradition demands that a Merseyside derby should be passionate, fiercely contested, fast and furious, blood and thunder stuff – a white knuckle ride for partisan local fans characterised by total commitment and illuminated by moments of spectacular skill.

Yet referee Phil Dowd somehow contrived to turn a game of football which is normally capable of gripping not just Merseyside but the whole nation into a game of cards – 11 in all, 9 yellow and 2 red – and the fact that some of them were almost Rileyesque in their stupidity served only to emphasise that as far as the officials were concerned this was the wrong appointment. Liverpool v Everton is a big game and it deserved a much bigger and better referee.

Remarkably, Despite Dowd’s worst efforts, the game sometimes flickered into life with moments of indisputable quality – Garcia seizing upon Crouch’s deft flick to lift the ball splendidly over Richard Wright’s ill-judged advance in the 46th minute; Cahill’s brilliantly timed header from a corner to give Everton a moment of hope with half an hour remaining and, 23 minutes later, Kewell’s devastating swerving 25 yard thunderbolt which put the result beyond doubt.

We were left wanting more, but what we got was probably as much as the players who were allowed to remain on the field – many of them on a yellow card and facing the threat of dismissal - could in these circumstances have been reasonably expected to provide.