Everton-Portsmouth: Goodison Park, 2nd March 2008

The pressure was on. With Liverpool moving up to forth thanks to their win against Bolton Wanders earlier in the day, Everton had to get at least a draw against Portsmouth to regain the last Champions League spot.

It could not have started better for Everton. Portsmouth made a complete hash of the kick off, resulting in Lassana Diarra bringing down Ayegbeni Yakubu for a free kick. Everton’s Steven Pienaar played the ball into the box and found teammate Joseph Yobo, who managed to flick the ball on towards Yakubu for a diving header past Portsmouth goal keeper David James.

1-0 Everton.

The whole play took less than a minute and Everton were back in driving seat for the race for fourth. We all sat back expecting to see Everton rack up the goals against Portsmouth, but Pompy are made of sterner stuff than that.

With the pressure now off, Everton were playing some pretty football, but it wasn’t penetrating the now organized Portsmouth defense. Both teams were taking long range shots that never troubled James or Tim Howard.

Everton were guilty of trying to "walk the ball in" when a first time shot would have been the best option. The Goodison faithful were becoming frustrated at Everton’s lack of attacking prowess and Pompy were only too happy to capitalize on the growing unease.

Portsmouth were awarded a free kick far out on the right. Glen Johnson’s cross towards the Everton goal caused complete confusion. Everton’s Yobo and Tony Hibbert couldn’t decide who was marking Portsmouth striker Jermain Defoe, so they left him for each other. Defoe’s unobstructed run distracted Howard who stayed on his line instead of coming to claim the ball. As the ball bounced in the area Defoe stuck out a boot, sending Howard the wrong way and allowing the ball to roll into the far corner.

1-1.

Defoe turned away claiming the goal as his, but I suspect he never actually made contact with the ball, so Johnson should get the credit. But it didn’t matter who had scored, Portsmouth were back in the game and Everton couldn’t blame anyone but themselves.

Portsmouth started the second half much better than they had the first. Within minutes Nwankwo Kanu's shot was met with a stunning save by Howard from only 6 yards out. Pompy were showing why they have a better record away from home as they looked to take the lead.

With 25 minutes left in the in match Everton made the best move of the game. They took off Hibbert, moved Phil Neville to right back, brought on Andrew Johnson and changed the formation to 4-4-2. Johnson’s pace immediately started to pay dividends against the much slower Portsmouth back four.

With Portsmouth now reluctant to push forward, because of the pace of Johnson, Everton began to play football again. In a great move Pienaar got himself to the left hand edge of the Portsmouth area. His cross was inch perfect for Tim Cahill who’s bullet header beat James.

2-1 Everton.

Much has been said about Cahill’s celebration after the goal and he has since apologized for any offense he might have caused. You couldn’t help but feel for Cahill, however, in what was obviously an emotional moment. It’s not my place to judge the rights and wrongs of a player's comment, but for those who haven’t seen it, after scoring Cahill made a gesture showing he was thinking of his older brother who was recently imprisoned for six years. I’ll leave it up to you to deice if a football pitch is the right place for such a statement.

Portsmouth were shattered by the goal. They lost their shape and their desire to push forward. Everton, sensing that Pompy were there for the kill, pushed on. A long pass by Johnson found Yakubu out on the left. He beat his marker, drove into the area, and unleashed a powerful shot that went through James’s hands and into the back of the net.

3-1 Everton.

And that finished the game. Even with 10 minutes left to play there was no way back for Portsmouth and Everton had reclaimed fourth spot in the league.

As usual, I’m days late with my report (real life always seems to get in the way!) but two things have happened since this game that will have a huge bearing on the rest of Everton’s season.

The first Everton could do nothing about. Liverpool finally got to play their game in hand and emphatically beat West Ham United to move back into fourth spot on goal difference. With ten games left to play every point is going to count, starting with Sunderland away on Sunday.

The second was all down to Everton. In their biggest test of European football so far, Everton traveled to Florence, Italy to play Fiorentina in the UEFA Cup. The 2-0 defeat doesn’t show how out classed Everton were. If Everton are to get to the quarter finals they will have to win the home leg by three goals. I fear that is too big of a challenge against the talented Italian side.