Tim Cahill Marks Return for Everton with Winning Goal

Tim Cahill marked his return from injury with the winning goal as Everton beat Stoke City in a thrilling game at the Britannia Stadium.

After being ruled out since March with a broken metatarsal, Cahill marked his comeback by smashing home a header on 77 minutes, to give his side a 3-2 victory over the Potters.

It was definitely a game of two halves, as a drab first half came before a pulsating second half, where both sides looked like scoring with every attack.

The rather boring first half was illuminated by Aiyegbeni Yakubu's goal on 41 minutes. The big Nigerian forward showed some good footwork before placing a decent shot beyond Thomas Sorensen.

After the half-time break, the tempo of the game increased as Everton went 2-0 up. Victor Anichebe got away from Seyi Olofinjana, before heading in Mikel Arteta's curling free-kick from 25 yards in the 52nd minute.

Three minutes later Stoke responded perfectly by clawing back Everton's lead. Olofinjana atoned for his earlier mistake by smashing in a volley, following Rory Delap's deadly long throw-in.

Ricardo Fuller thought he had equalised for Stoke on the hour mark, when after outmuscling Joseph Yobo to get onto Dave Kitson's flick header, the Jamaican turned past Everton keeper Tim Howard to put the ball into an empty net.

Fuller wheeled away in celebration, but those celebrations were soon cut short, as referee Alan Wiley disalllowed the goal, after adjudging that he fouled Yobo.

But it didn't matter too much as the Potters did equalise just three minutes later. Rory Delap delivered into the box yet another trademark throw-in, which was flicked on by Phil Jagielka, who could only watch as the ball bounced beyond Howard and into his own net.

Everton were quite unfortunate not to have had a penalty on 73 minutes, when Leon Cort handled inside the area under pressure from Aiyegbeni Yakubu. It was clear that the offence happened inside the area, but referee Alan Wiley only gave a free-kick. This decision incensed Toffee's manager David Moyes, so much so that he was sent to the stands.

From an Everton point of view, justice was done four minutes later, when Tim Cahill darted in at the near post to head in Mikel Arteta's corner, marking his return from injury and wrapping up a 3-2 win for Everton.