Goodison Park - Everton FC
Everton 3-3 Aston Villa
02/02/13 - Premier League
Att: 38,121
On 22nd September 1888 Everton visited Perry Barr to face Aston Villa in the Football League's inaugural season, with Villa coming out on top 2-1. 125 years on and Everton are facing Aston Villa for the 196th time in the top flight, making it the most played top flight fixture in English football. With Aston Villa's top flight status under serious threat it looks as if this could be the last meeting of these two famous clubs for a while, so I made sure I visited Goodison Park just in case.
I had looked into various ways of travelling to the match and with it being the start of my week off work I decided to try and make a weekend of it, taking in a game the following day. I booked a MegaBus from London to Liverpool for £4 (yes, four pounds) and despite a forty minute delay to the departure, we made it to Merseyside only ten minutes behind schedule, arriving at 1:45pm. From here I headed to the bus station and caught the bus to Goodison, which went smoothly and I was outside the ground just after 2pm.
Goodison Park is without doubt one of the grandest stadiums this country has to offer with the Main Stand dominating the skyline on the approach to the ground through narrow streets with terraced houses, with programme sellers and merchandise stalls lining the paths on the way to the stadium. It's a proper football experience and is certainly a dying breed. "Golden Goal tickets! Only a pound! Still better value than Joe Allen!" was the best sales pitch I heard that afternoon.
Everton have played at the ground since 1892, having previously played at Stanley Park between 1879 and 1884, before moving to Anfield where the club enjoyed success - Winning their first league title in 1890/91, with the capacity growing to over 20,000 and it also became the first professional ground in England to use goal nets. A dispute over growing rates of rent being charged by Everton chairman and Anfield owner John Houlding lead to the club vacating the site in 1892. Everton moved up the road to Goodison and Houlding formed a new club, Liverpool, to play in his stadium.
In 1894 Goodison became the first Football League ground to stage an FA Cup final as Notts County beat Bolton Wanderers and it was also chosen to host five matches at the 1966 World Cup, including all three of Brazil's group matches in which Pele was kicked out of the tournament. A remarkable quarter final between Portugal and North Korea was also staged at Goodison, as Eusebio inspired the Portuguese to come from 3-0 down to defeat the North Koreans 5-3. The final match played on the ground was the semi-final between West Germany and the Soviet Union.
The stadium is built up of four different stands and is a classic, old school football ground and everything that a stadium should be. On one side the Main Stand is simply magnificent, it was finished in 1971 and was the first three-tiered stand built in this country, with the top tier looking incredibly steep I can imagine it gives a fine view of the action. Behind one goal is the Gwladys Street End, which is the traditional home end for the Everton supporters. It's a two tiered stand with a capacity of 10,000 and is a similar size and design to the Bullens Road Stand which houses the away supporters at one end. Behind the other goal is the newest part of the ground - The Park End, which was built in 1994. It's a fairly basic one tiered stand and is the only stand that doesn't feature supporting pillars. With a capacity of just over 40,000 it's a superb venue and a real mark of how big a club Everton is.
With nine league titles, five FA Cups and a European Cup Winners' Cup to their name Everton are the 7th most decorated club in English history, but are without a trophy since lifting the FA Cup in 1995. Under Howard Kendall in the mid-eighties Everton won the league twice, as well as the FA Cup and it's widely considered that if English clubs weren't banned from Europe that they would have a European Cup to their name too.
This season has been a good one for The Toffees, who are benefiting from making a good start to the season for a change. Things kicked off with a 1-0 win over Man Utd at Goodison and that was followed by a 3-1 victory at Villa Park. Going into the match Everton were in the thick of the race for a Champions League spot - Something that they last achieved in 2004/05. By stark contrast Aston Villa were still without a win since winning at Anfield in mid-December and on paper this looked like it would be a routine victory for Everton, just as it was back in August.
There wasn't a spare seat to be had as the teams came on to the pitch with a good atmosphere building inside the stadium. Everton were in blue, with Villa also in their traditional home colours apart from the socks which had been changed from blue to white, creating a bit of a West Ham look.
With the match not even two minutes old N'Zogbia played the ball to Benteke who skinned Heitinga with ease before calmly slotting the ball past Tim Howard to give Villa a shock lead. Frankly, we all knew we probably wouldn't win, but we all went mental anyway. It was a superb start. Everton responded and Fellaini came close to leveling matters when his shot went just past the post. With twenty minutes played the home side were level when Anichebe outmuscled Clark and rolled the ball into the far corner. It wasn't a great surprise, but the way the team responded certainly was. Benteke beat the offside trap but his shot was deflected behind for a corner. The corner was cleared, but Lowton worked the ball out wide again to Westwood who crossed for Agbonlahor to head Villa back in front. Unbelievable scenes.
Everton made a bright start to the second period as they looked to get level again, but it was Villa who had the best chance of the half when Weimann was through on goal, but his shot was still rising as it nestled in the upper tier of the Gwladys Street End. Moments later Villa were on the attack again when a long range cross from Lowton was met by Benteke who headed in his fourth goal on Merseyside this season and looked to have secured a huge victory for Aston Villa.
The worst thing Villa could do from there was let Everton back into the game quickly, but eight minutes later that's exactly what happened when Fellaini was allowed to waltz into the box to pull a goal back for The Toffees. With twenty minutes left on the clock Villa were under heavy pressure, sat deeper and deeper and began to lose their shape. Several chances went begging for Everton before they got a corner in stoppage time, which when playing against Villa is as good as having a penalty, and Fellaini managed to lose his marker and head home the cross to rescue a point for Everton.
It was the second time this season that Villa had conceded a stoppage time equaliser and the third time this season that they'd thrown away a two goal lead. I think we would have all been delighted with a point before the match, but it's getting to the stage where wins are very much needed and when you go 3-1 up you should really see it out. Having said that, a draw was probably a fair result and it was a thoroughly entertaining game of football.
After the match we clapped the team off and headed back into town, before boarding a train to Preston where I was staying the night ahead of the following day's trip to Edinburgh to see Hibs take on Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup.
I have to say that I really enjoyed visiting Goodison Park. It's everything I thought it would be, unlike my trip to White Hart Lane which I found hugely underwhelming. There's a realness to a matchday at Everton. It may be showing it's age in places and doesn't always offer the best view of the match, but it's a true gem of a stadium and one that should be cherished while it's still standing.
I had looked into various ways of travelling to the match and with it being the start of my week off work I decided to try and make a weekend of it, taking in a game the following day. I booked a MegaBus from London to Liverpool for £4 (yes, four pounds) and despite a forty minute delay to the departure, we made it to Merseyside only ten minutes behind schedule, arriving at 1:45pm. From here I headed to the bus station and caught the bus to Goodison, which went smoothly and I was outside the ground just after 2pm.
Goodison Park is without doubt one of the grandest stadiums this country has to offer with the Main Stand dominating the skyline on the approach to the ground through narrow streets with terraced houses, with programme sellers and merchandise stalls lining the paths on the way to the stadium. It's a proper football experience and is certainly a dying breed. "Golden Goal tickets! Only a pound! Still better value than Joe Allen!" was the best sales pitch I heard that afternoon.
Everton have played at the ground since 1892, having previously played at Stanley Park between 1879 and 1884, before moving to Anfield where the club enjoyed success - Winning their first league title in 1890/91, with the capacity growing to over 20,000 and it also became the first professional ground in England to use goal nets. A dispute over growing rates of rent being charged by Everton chairman and Anfield owner John Houlding lead to the club vacating the site in 1892. Everton moved up the road to Goodison and Houlding formed a new club, Liverpool, to play in his stadium.
In 1894 Goodison became the first Football League ground to stage an FA Cup final as Notts County beat Bolton Wanderers and it was also chosen to host five matches at the 1966 World Cup, including all three of Brazil's group matches in which Pele was kicked out of the tournament. A remarkable quarter final between Portugal and North Korea was also staged at Goodison, as Eusebio inspired the Portuguese to come from 3-0 down to defeat the North Koreans 5-3. The final match played on the ground was the semi-final between West Germany and the Soviet Union.
The stadium is built up of four different stands and is a classic, old school football ground and everything that a stadium should be. On one side the Main Stand is simply magnificent, it was finished in 1971 and was the first three-tiered stand built in this country, with the top tier looking incredibly steep I can imagine it gives a fine view of the action. Behind one goal is the Gwladys Street End, which is the traditional home end for the Everton supporters. It's a two tiered stand with a capacity of 10,000 and is a similar size and design to the Bullens Road Stand which houses the away supporters at one end. Behind the other goal is the newest part of the ground - The Park End, which was built in 1994. It's a fairly basic one tiered stand and is the only stand that doesn't feature supporting pillars. With a capacity of just over 40,000 it's a superb venue and a real mark of how big a club Everton is.
With nine league titles, five FA Cups and a European Cup Winners' Cup to their name Everton are the 7th most decorated club in English history, but are without a trophy since lifting the FA Cup in 1995. Under Howard Kendall in the mid-eighties Everton won the league twice, as well as the FA Cup and it's widely considered that if English clubs weren't banned from Europe that they would have a European Cup to their name too.
This season has been a good one for The Toffees, who are benefiting from making a good start to the season for a change. Things kicked off with a 1-0 win over Man Utd at Goodison and that was followed by a 3-1 victory at Villa Park. Going into the match Everton were in the thick of the race for a Champions League spot - Something that they last achieved in 2004/05. By stark contrast Aston Villa were still without a win since winning at Anfield in mid-December and on paper this looked like it would be a routine victory for Everton, just as it was back in August.
There wasn't a spare seat to be had as the teams came on to the pitch with a good atmosphere building inside the stadium. Everton were in blue, with Villa also in their traditional home colours apart from the socks which had been changed from blue to white, creating a bit of a West Ham look.
With the match not even two minutes old N'Zogbia played the ball to Benteke who skinned Heitinga with ease before calmly slotting the ball past Tim Howard to give Villa a shock lead. Frankly, we all knew we probably wouldn't win, but we all went mental anyway. It was a superb start. Everton responded and Fellaini came close to leveling matters when his shot went just past the post. With twenty minutes played the home side were level when Anichebe outmuscled Clark and rolled the ball into the far corner. It wasn't a great surprise, but the way the team responded certainly was. Benteke beat the offside trap but his shot was deflected behind for a corner. The corner was cleared, but Lowton worked the ball out wide again to Westwood who crossed for Agbonlahor to head Villa back in front. Unbelievable scenes.
Everton made a bright start to the second period as they looked to get level again, but it was Villa who had the best chance of the half when Weimann was through on goal, but his shot was still rising as it nestled in the upper tier of the Gwladys Street End. Moments later Villa were on the attack again when a long range cross from Lowton was met by Benteke who headed in his fourth goal on Merseyside this season and looked to have secured a huge victory for Aston Villa.
The worst thing Villa could do from there was let Everton back into the game quickly, but eight minutes later that's exactly what happened when Fellaini was allowed to waltz into the box to pull a goal back for The Toffees. With twenty minutes left on the clock Villa were under heavy pressure, sat deeper and deeper and began to lose their shape. Several chances went begging for Everton before they got a corner in stoppage time, which when playing against Villa is as good as having a penalty, and Fellaini managed to lose his marker and head home the cross to rescue a point for Everton.
It was the second time this season that Villa had conceded a stoppage time equaliser and the third time this season that they'd thrown away a two goal lead. I think we would have all been delighted with a point before the match, but it's getting to the stage where wins are very much needed and when you go 3-1 up you should really see it out. Having said that, a draw was probably a fair result and it was a thoroughly entertaining game of football.
After the match we clapped the team off and headed back into town, before boarding a train to Preston where I was staying the night ahead of the following day's trip to Edinburgh to see Hibs take on Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup.
I have to say that I really enjoyed visiting Goodison Park. It's everything I thought it would be, unlike my trip to White Hart Lane which I found hugely underwhelming. There's a realness to a matchday at Everton. It may be showing it's age in places and doesn't always offer the best view of the match, but it's a true gem of a stadium and one that should be cherished while it's still standing.
Rear of The Park End
The Main Stand
Club shop
Badge on the side of the Bullens Road Stand
Teams line up in front of the Main Stand
Gwladys Street End
Park End
Main Stand
St Lukes Church, blocked by a big screen
Panoramic view of Goodison Park
