CarlingNet - No 1 for Match Reports

Everton v Newcastle 17/08/96 3.00

Everton                 (2) 2 Newcastle               (0) 0 FT
Unsworth 29 (pen)             
Speed 40

Duncan Ferguson stole Alan Shearer's headlines with a stunning display which put Newcastle's title hopes into perspective and Kevin Keegan's judgement on the line.

The 6ft 4in Scot had spent the summer recovering from his April hernia operation while Shearer was leading the Euro 96 scoring charts and then making football history with his £15million move from Blackburn.

But while Shearer was experiencing another frustrating afternoon in front of goal, Ferguson was making Keegan pay for his failure to bolster the defensive ranks after the miseries of May.

Although the idol of Goodison did not get on the scoresheet himself it was his sheer physical presence that created both David Unsworth's penalty opener and Gary Speed's debut strike.

And with Ferguson, aided by the direct thrust of Andrei Kanchelskis, running rampant throughout, Newcastle went back to Tyneside bedraggled and beaten and with their tails firmly between their legs.

Perhaps, with Faustino Asprilla suspended and Peter Beardsley left out, it was supposed to be all about Shearer and the Geordie fans in one corner of a packed Goodison believed so.

But Joe Royle, who welcomed Earl Barrett back into action after a 10-month lay-off, clearly had not read the script, and from the outset, with Newcastle incapable of doing anything about Ferguson, Everton took charge.

Keegan had brought back Shaka Hislop, Steve Howey and Keith Gillespie surprisingly on the left after the Charity Shield debacle, but Newcastle were still a shambles defensively.

Within 10 seconds the alarm bells were ringing as Kanchelskis, running past John Beresford at will, nearly picked out Graham Stuart, and with Ferguson scaring the life out of the St James' Park men, the writing seemed on the wall.

Ferguson, Stuart, Speed and Kanchelskis had all gone close, before Shearer appeared to have applied the whitewash in the 24th minute.

David Batty's free-kick found the purposeful Les Ferdinand and he nodded back across goal where Shearer and Philippe Albert had only Andy Hinchcliffe near them.

Shearer's header ended up in the back of the net, but referee Mike Reed had spotted the Belgian pushing down on the defender, instantly silencing the travelling Toon Army.

And within 16 minutes, the contest was effectively over, as Ferguson's constant menace belatedly delivered what had been promised.

First the hulking frame of the Scot pressured Steve Watson into giving Hislop no chance with a woeful back header.

Ferguson nipped in, the ball ran free, and when Watson tried to atone, he only succeeded in felling Ferguson from behind.

Again Mr Reed had no hesitation, and neither did Unsworth, comfortably sending Hislop the wrong way from the spot.

If the Newcastle defending was poor then, it was criminal five minutes before the break. Stuart's ball in from the right was nothing special, nor was Ferguson's flick into the box.

But a gap as wide as the Mersey Tunnel allowed Speed to dance through unopposed and crown his debut after his £3.5million move from Leeds with a simple shot.

Shearer tried to rise to the challenge with a superb header from David Ginola's right wing cross which was going for the top corner before Southall showed that 38 years and 700 games have not dimmed his ability.

But with that, and a Gillsepie header easily saved, went Newcastle's fleeting chances, only Everton's failings keeping them nominally in the contest.

Kanchelskis somehow allowed Hislop to save just before the break, and afterwards it was even more one-way traffic.

Andy Hinchcliffe was a fraction away, Ferguson shot when Stuart had to score from a centre, and then in swift order the giant Scot saw Howey clear off the line and then watched a header from Speed's cross drift wide.

Keegan tried to put some life in the Newcastle corpse by sending Beardsley on for Ginola, but it was to no avail, the cause long since lost.

When Southall dived to his left to parry Shearer's curling free-kick in the final minute, Newcastle's day to forget was complete. Everton, though, appear to have plenty to look forward to.