Tales of the Ununpected

It is traditional that the pace of a Merseyside derby must be frenzied from the very first whistle. Not this time. The 40,000 fans who filled Goodison with their passion on 9th September 2006 were obliged to sit through two whole minutes of comparatively sedate sparring before the customary hostilities began in earnest.

Then suddenly the pace of the passes picked up, the challenges became more frantic and the game began to ebb and flow as it should. Opening minutes of Everton pressure gave way to an intense period in which the visitors forced four corners, before Everton regained the initiative and snatched a 23rd minute lead through Cahill. And just when Liverpool seemed to be re-establishing a stranglehold on the game, Andy Johnson seized onto Carsley’s pass to burst between Hyypia and Carragher and beat Reina at the near post. Ecstatic Everton fans hailed their new hero and a 2-0 half-time lead, and the devastated Liverpool contingent miserably contemplated unprecedented defensive frailty.

Worse was to follow for the Reds. At the end of a combative, scruffy, substitute filled second half played at breakneck speed but only rarely enriched by moments of good football, Everton sealed an emphatic victory over their wealthier rivals with an extra time goal which had farce written all over it. Carsley’s fierce shot was inexplicably bobbed up in the air by Reina for Johnson to steam in and head home from a yard out.

And moments later, a grim faced Raffa Benitez left to share his disappointment, and one or two home truths, with his players in the privacy of the dressing room.