Everton 3 Tottenham Hotspur 1

Last updated : 09 April 2004 By Footymad Previewer

Everton outshone their London rivals Tottenham Hotspur with a comprehensive 3-1 win at Goodison Park.

After a midweek scolding by manager David Moyes for a weak performance against Newcastle, Everton needed to impress.

By the first minute the Blues were already pushing forward.

Steve Watson came flying down the right flank to set up Tomasz Radzinski, but the slippery conditions made it hard to control and pressure from Anthony Gardner forced the ball wide.

Moments later the Toffees were again picking gaping holes in the Spurs defence as Watson fed the ball down the right flank for the waiting Radzinski, who launched a perfectly placed volley forcing Kasey Keller to make a clearance at full stretch.

The Toffees were in total control and opened the scoring after 17 minutes.

A short corner by Thomas Gravesen to Gary Naysmith was blasted into the penalty box, where it fell to David Unsworth who hammered it into the back of the net.

Tottenham could produce little going forward and when Michael Brown brought James McFadden down on the edge of the area after 24 minutes it gave the Toffees a chance for a second.

Naysmith stepped up to take the free-kick and blistered it past a bewildered Tottenham defence and straight into the net.

Spurs' frustration shone through as captain Jamie Redknapp was booked for a challenge on McFadden, before a defensive error by Gary Doherty forced his keeper Keller to clear from the edge of the penalty box leaving the goalmouth wide open.

A panic challenge by Doherty saw him receive a yellow card and give Everton another opportunity to score, with Gravesen firing in a free-kick that rebounded off Keller and into the path of Joseph Yobo, who stroked home the third.

At half-time David Pleat attempted to spark a fightback by introducing substitute Freddie Kanoute, but Everton continued to bombard the away side with a series of strikes at goal.

Then finally in the 75th minute struggling Tottenham managed to claw a goal back.

Rohan Ricketts skipped through the sleeping Everton defence to clear the way for Stephen Carr, who netted the consolation.

But seconds after scoring the Irish defender was sent off for a second reckless challenge on McFadden and it was all over for the visitors.