WIGAN ATHLETIC 0 – EVERTON (Cahill 84) 1
For the umpteenth time in his career it was Tim Cahill’s technique in the box which turned this game, as Everton won ugly, a facility much prized by all aspiring teams. At the back Philippe Senderos made a composed and competent debut, while up-front Louis Saha had what David Moyes described later as a “stonewall penalty” turned down by referee Lee Probert, who also ruled offside what looked a perfectly legitimate goal from Marouane Fellaini. An injury to Sylvain Distin meant that the only change from the team which beat Sunderland saw Philippe Senderos taking his place alongside Johnny Heitinga in central defence. For Wigan Jason Scotland started and Paul Scharner dropped to the bench.
Gary Caldwell may be physically imposing but as a footballer he lacks pace and subtlety. As early as the first minute he resorted to tugging at Cahill’s shirt and by the half-hour mark had to employ a crash tackle inside the penalty area to stop Saha, an offence which on another day would have seen a spot kick awarded and possibly drawn a red card. Saha came closest to scoring when he met a perfect Baines cross only to see his powerful header clawed over the bar by Stojkovic. It would have been the Parisian’s 100th goal in English football, a landmark which will now have to wait until next Saturday at Anfield. Wigan created two clear opportunities in the first half as Rodellega and then Scotland got in behind the Everton defence, only for Howard to save the first and Scotland to fire high and wide when more composure might have seen him score his first top-flight goal.
Just two minutes into the second half Baines might have scored against his old employers after Diame brought down Pienaar just outside the box. Baines curled the free kick accurately to the bottom left-hand corner only for Stojkovic to push it round the post. N’Zogbia’s speed and strength caused problems all afternoon and culminated in Heitinga body checking the little Frenchman right on the edge of the penalty area; replays showed the referee, for once, was correct in turning down Wigan’s vociferous penalty appeals.
Cahill’s return to form and goal scoring potency has been one of the key elements driving Everton up the table. His cleverness and expertise in the box, from set pieces, is feared and planned for by every defence in the league and yet the goals still come. The one he scored in the eighty-fourth minute was a classic of the genre. Good work by Saha won a corner which Baines took from the left. Cahill’s semi-circular run round the back of a gaggle of static defenders took him away from his marker, Figueroa, and a typical spring-heeled jump while on the move allowed him to meet the ball perfectly. His powerful, textbook, downward header was unstoppable. Game over? Not quite, in added time, just to keep us honest, a 25 yard snap-shot from N’Zogbia slapped the angle of crossbar and post.
EVERTON (4-4-1-1): Howard; Neville©, Heitinga, Senderos, Baines; Fellaini, Osman, Pienaar, Donovan (Anichebe 75); Cahill; Saha (Vaughan 90+3)
Subs not used: Nash, Bilyaletdinov, Rodwell, Coleman, Duffy
WIGAN ATHLETIC (4-2-3-1): Stojkovic; Boyce, Caldwell, Bramble©, Figueroa; Thomas (Gomez 88), Diame (Scharner 58); McCarthey, N’Zogbia, Rodallega; Scotland (Sinclair 79)
Subs not used: Pollitt, Amaya, Watson, Koumas
Referee: Lee Probert                           Gate: 16,869
