Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Sixteen year old Wayne Rooney scored a dramatic, last-minute wonder goal to give Everton all three points against Premiership Champions Arsenal.
It was a fairy-tale story. The "unbeatable" Arsenal came to Goodison Park with a record of 30 Premiership matches without defeat. But that magnificent record was shattered when a sixteen year old local lad, making only his ninth league appearance for the club he's supported all his life, scored a 25 yard screamer, that just happened to be his first goal in The Premier League.
The Evertonians inside the packed Goodison Park went absoloutely berserk.
The goal came from a
However, it was the Champions who opened the scoring in the eighth minute. A good run and cross by Thierry Henry lead to chaos inside the Everton penalty area and Freddie Ljungberg produced a tidy finish to give the Gunners the lead.
The Blues were down but not out. Everton matched Arsenal in every department on this afternoon and deservedly equalised in the 22nd minute. A powerful driving run by Gravesen found Lee Carsley in plenty of space inside the area and he smashed a poweful shot against the post. However, the rebound fell to Tomasz Radzinski and he danced around an Arsenal defender before firing the ball through a hoard of bodies and past David Seaman into the Gwladys Street goal.
In the 81st minute Radzinski who'd had a brilliant match was replaced by Rooney who in only nine minutes showed skill and ability well beyond his years. His goal, surely a contender for goal of the season, was followed minutes later by another outstanding effort. With Seaman off his line, Rooney tried a chip with the outside of his boot from 20 yards that clipped the roof of the net.
After an eternity of injury time, the final whistle was greeted by the loudest roar and terrific celebrations by the hysterical Evertonians. The celebrations continued long after the final whistle with not one, but two rousing renditions of the customary, "And if, you know, your history..."
The rest of the country now knew what the Evertonians had known for the past few months; Wayne Rooney is an immense talent who is about the take the Premiership by storm. Everton had tried to put a protective blanket around Rooney and keep him out of the headlines as much as possible, but they couldn't prevent him from being on the back pages of every Sunday newspaper the following day.
Bill Kenwright put it best when he said a few weeks earlier, "You can't play down Wayne Rooney. How can you play down the greatest thing around in football?"
Everton; Wright, Hibbert, Weir, Yobo, Unsworth, Carsley (Stubbs 90), Gravesen, Pembridge, Li Tie (Linderoth 55), Campbell, Radzinski (Rooney 81). Subs not used; Gerrard, Alexandersson. Goalscorers; Radzinski 22, Rooney 90. Attendance; 39, 038.