Everton gave their beleaguered fans renewed hope of Premiership survival as
they showed style as well as spirit to beat Crystal Palace 3-1 at Selhurst
Park.
Howard Kendall's men, in 18th place before the kick-off, had not won away from
Goodison Park in the league for almost a year when they triumphed 1-0 at
Leicester with a late penalty on December 20.
Now they have won two away games in a month - and three of their last four
Premiership encounters - but it was their performance that will have pleased
Kendall as much as the result, even if they were helped by woeful Palace
defending.
Nick Barmby ended a three-month goal drought to score the first as he looked
to be on the way back to regaining the form that made him an England prospect,
while Duncan Ferguson was as combative as ever and headed home the second - all
within the first 11 minutes.
Frenchman Mickael Madar, a recent big money signing from Deportivo La Coruna
in Spain, hit his first for the club on his debut on 33 minutes to wrap up
victory and always offered another option to the long ball up to Ferguson.
Palace's Swedish international triallist Tomas Brolin, the Leeds reject,
looked lively on his debut, and fellow striker Bruce Dyer gave the home side
hope on 15 minutes, bringing the score back to 2-1 from the penalty spot.
But Palace's static defending was the root cause of their defeat, leaving them
still without a Premiership home win since the beginning of the season and
nursing an unwanted club record.
Their first error came as early as the second minute when Barmby was allowed
to arrive unmarked in the box to score the third of the season but his first for
10 games.
Craig Short had brought the ball out of defence and played it up to Ferguson
on the edge of the area, but the Scottish international dummied the ball to
leave Barmby in the clear and he calmly slotted his shot past Palace goalkeeper
Kevin miller.
Ferguson made it 2-0 as Palace's defence remained rooted to the spot yet again
to allow the centre-forward to rise unchallenged in the area and head a cross
from the right past Miller.
Palace seemed to have got back into the game when Slaven Bilic - back after a
five match suspension - brought down Dyer in the area, and the Eagles striker
regained his composure to beat Thomas Myhre from the spot.
Palace almost levelled on three occasions when first Myhre just managed to
claw a Dyer header off the line, then Andy Linighan headed just past the post
and finally Brolin unwittingly deflected a goal bound effort from Dyer for a
goal-kick.
But just as Palace were stepping up their game their defensive weakness came
back to haunt them as Madar crowned his debut with a goal.
As Tony Grant's cross from the right came in, the Palace defenders seemed more
concerned about moving out for offside than marking the Frenchman as he
controlled the ball instantly and struck his shot past Miller with a flourish.
As a frenetic first half came to an end, Brolin saw a header hit the outside
of the post, while for Everton Gary Speed and then Barmby both shot just inches
wide across the face of the goal.
The second half was a let-down after the excitement of the first, as both
managers tightened things up.
The clearest chance fell to Speed - who, like Short, was returning from injury
- beat the Palace offside trap but saw Miller save his shot with his legs.
Despite the continued efforts of Dyer, Everton closed down their defence
marshalled by Bilic to shut out Palace.
Teams:
Crystal Palace: Miller, Edworthy, Gordon, Roberts, Linighan,
Dyer, Rodger (Bent 62), Hreidarsson, Emblen (Boxall 46),
Fullarton, Brolin.
Subs Not Used: Nash, Quinn, Ginty.
Booked: Rodger.
Goals: Dyer 17 pen.
Everton: Myhre, Madar (Cadamarteri 75), Barmby, Ferguson, Speed,
Short, Thomas, Grant (Farrelly 71), Tiler, Ball, Bilic,
Cadamarteri (Thomsen 84).
Subs Not Used: Gerrard, Oster.
Booked: Ball, Bilic.
Goals: Barmby 3, Ferguson 12, Madar 34.
Att: 23,311
Ref: G P Barber (Pyrford).
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