Match Summary
Everton
arrived at Ibrox with a fairly strong team, shorn of Richard Wright, who
is not yet fit after sustaining his silly summer shoulder accident. Carsley
and Pembridge were sidelined with knocks sustained in pre-season
training. Duncan Ferguson returned to Ibrox on the bench. For
Rangers, a certain Michael Ball was making his comeback from chronic
knee-injury problems after joining from Everton two years ago.
Rooney
set Radzinski free with a lovely through ball early on but Muscat tackled
well to end the danger. Stubbs then had a pop from a free-kick after
just three minutes. But after a bright start, things quietened down
a little as Rangers started to take possession of the midfield.
A good attack then saw the ball driven across the face of the Rangers
goal but Radzinski could not connect. Neil McCann then set up a
wonderful pinpoint cross for Steven Thompson, who powered an excellent
header past Simonsen to open the scoring after 20 mins. It was a
just reflection of the game, with Rangers showing much better poise and
control than a ragged Everton side. Another free-kick opportunity
for Everton was taken by Pistone, but blocked by the wall, and Stubbs
again drilled the rebound fractionally wide. Rooney was trying his
best to raise the Everton game but he was being heavily guarded by the
Rangers defenders. Then, a heavy challenge saw him laying prostrate,
and he was then stretchered off, to the massive concern of every
Evertonian. Kevin Campbell replaced him. If Everton were poor with
Rooney on the field trying to raise their game, they looked even more
sloppy without him. Lovenkrands was a big danger, and David Weir was
forced to foul him on the edge of the area but Simonsen made a good save,
although he had to secure it at the second attempt. Stubbs and Campbell
came close again toward the interval. Niclas Alexandersson came on after
the interval, replacing Watson. Finally after 10 minutes of the second
half, Everton produced their best football of the game, with pace from
Radzinski and vision from Gravesen. But the outcome was only a
corner and it came to nothing more. Unsworth and Gemmill then
replaced Linderoth and Naysmith, neither of whom had been that impressive. Radzinski
then won a penalty after Muscat tripped him as he streaked into the
area. Rangers were typically upset, but David Unsworth fired it home
with his usual aplomb. Moments later, Radzinski was in a gain but
pushed it fractionally wide, as Everton came into their own, with Thomas
Gravesen the central architect. Another promising attack saw
Alexandersson's weak centre go straight to goalkeeper Kloss before
Ferguson and Li Tie joined the fray. And it was less than a minute
before Li Tie powered in an unstoppable rocket shot first time off a ball
from Alexandersson! But Michael Mols equalized moments later,
from a very offside position. And in the last minute, a
fabulous finish for Alan Stubbs, who had been booed relentlessly by the
Huns. A free-kick on the edge of the area, and a fabulous strike
deflected (by Michael Ball of all people!) past Kloss for the final goal
of the game.
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