No. 76 Everton 2 Liverpool 3 ‘“ April 2001
On 16 April 2001, The Guardian Newspaper opened their match review with the following headline: ‘œIt may have been chaotic, its spiteful edge never blunted amid the flurry of yellow cards, but Liverpool emerged from the 164th Merseyside derby last night with their first success at Everton since 1990.’
The match featured five goals, a missed penalty, two Liverpool rejected penalty appeals, 12 bookings and the sending off of Igor Biscan!!
TIA Columnist Ste Speed recently reminisced when Gary McAllister provided the final twist to an amazing match…..
“This is the match most remembered for Gary McAllister’s long range free kick in the dying seconds. Liverpool took the lead with Emile Heskey going one on one with Everton keeper Paul Gerrard. Everton equalised soon after through Bluenose hero Duncan Ferguson. Liverpool went back into the lead in the second half with a goal from Marcus Babel. Soon after this Robbie Fowler missed a penalty that surely would have put the game out of Everton‘s reach. Everton capitalised on this penalty miss by going up to the other end and winning one of their own.
David Unsworth didn’t miss. It looked to be heading for a 2 ‘“ 2 draw when we got a free kick in the dying seconds. Surely this was to be our last chance to snatch the victory. Everyone in the room was expecting McAllister to float the ball in to the box because it was so far away from the goal. However I saw the look in his eye as he put the ball down and said; ‘œhe’s going to hit this’. My prediction was correct as it sailed straight into the bottom corner of the Everton goal. The Liverpool fans, the bench and the players went absolutely berserk…
This was an extremely crucial win as we needed every point we could get on our chase for that crucial third Champions League place. This victory, and that goal, gave us that extra bit of confidence we needed for the exciting climax to the treble season.”
Evertons Team : Gerrard; Abel Xavier, Ball, Gough (Alexandersson), Unsworth, Watson, S (Pistone), Weir; Gemmill; Campbell, Ferguson, Nyarko.
Everton Goals : Ferguson (42), Unsworth (83) pen
Liverpools Team : Westerveld; Babbel, Carragher, Henchoz, Hyypia; Biscan, Hamann, McAllister; Fowler (Vignal), Heskey, Smicer.
Liverpool Goals : Heskey (5), Babbel (57), McAllister (90)
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