Sean Graham: 2004, Everton v. Tottenham Hotspur

With this weekend's Super Sunday clash between Everton and Tottenham Hotspur coming up, I started to think of when I was down at Goodison for an Easter Good Friday treat as part of my Birthday a few years ago, thanks to my Mum and Wife and Daughter back in 2004.

It was a trip that I was looking forward to for some time especially when I knew that I would be heading to Liverpool. From the moment that I stepped on the train from Glasgow Central straight through to Lime Street, I knew this would be a journey that I would never Forget.

I knew that I would meet my mates Tommy Burgess, Andy Conway and Tommy Steele there but what I didn't know was that I would meet some great Evertonians also both inside and outside the ground.

On arrival at Lime Street , I was met by Tommy B and we would go for a little stroll before heading back to meet Tommy's lovely wife Anna as I would be staying overnight with them.

While at Tommy and Anna's house, Tommy would show me his shrine to his beloved Toffees and I could have stayed there all day looking at the pictures and programmes from Everton matches over the years. After our dinner we headed out to Goodison and to see Andy and Tommy outside the ground.

I was like a kid at Christmas, meeting my mates and also buying fanzines and various souvenirs and that was before I got to the megastore!

I managed to get a track suit and some other memorabilia to add to the collection. It was amazing walking up the street seeing all these Everton Statues of Dixie Dean and some great pictures too and the wonderful fans. I could not wait to step inside the stadium, I took a breath as we went inside and climbed up to our seats, what a view.

Goodison under the floodlights was certainly special and so was what was to unfold that night.

Indeed the first half was as impressive display as many had seen from an Everton side in a long while. They took 17 minutes to take the lead as David Unsworth managed to score from close range to send the fans, including this Scottish one, wild . This was a dream start for Everton and it was about to get a whole lot better as Gary Naismith curled home a fantastic free kick after 24 minutes to double their lead, this was certainly more than I could have hoped for.

I knew that Spurs would not simply roll over and they did have quality in their side and did create chances and Defoe forced Martyn into a save but the keeper kept them at bay. Everton knew that if they could keep this lead till half time they had a chance to take the points but instead of sitting back on their lead, the Toffees netted again, this time Joseph Yobo was on hand to knock the ball home after Keller had pushed a Gravesen free kick into his path. Everton were now in dream land.

Going onto the break 3-0 up against this Spurs side was quite special. Especially when you consider they had guys like Keane and Defoe in their ranks. They knew Tottenham would come at them and they did but they managed to hold out till the 75th minute as Steven Carr pulled one back with a great solo goal with his first goal for Spurs in three years.

But his joy was short lived as he was showed a second yellow card after tripping McFadden who was linking up fantastically with Naismith on the left all night. Everton had a good tempo about them and thoroughly deserved their win on the night.

It was a perfect end to a perfect visit for me and as I have only been back to see the Toffees once since that win, a 1-0 win over Manchester United, I hope that it is not too long till I hear Z-Cars tune coming out of the speakers at Goodison and see the people's club on Merseyside and my pals, once again. No doubt my mate Dean who is a Spurs fan will hope the tables will turn this weekend.

But I hope that Andy, Tommy B, Tommy S, Ross, me and all the Evertonians are the ones celebrating again.

It should be a cracking game !

Memory added on November 1, 2013

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