Everton 1 - 0 Manchester United

Everton 1-0 Man Utd: Reds see red

Updated: April 20, 2005, 10:28 PM UK

Manchester United finished with nine men while triumphant Everton were on the brink of finishing this momentous season in the Champions League after a superb 1-0 victory at Goodison Park.

• Neville could face police probe

Everton outfought the Old Trafford men from start to finish and managed a league victory over their illustrious opponents for the first time in 10 years.

It was Duncan Ferguson who got the winner a decade ago and the giant Scot scored the decider again, early in the second half to send the home supporters crazy.

From then on, it was United who lost their heads. They had two England internationals sent off as frustration boiled over.

First, Gary Neville was dismissed for kicking the ball into the crowd and then, in stoppage time, Paul Scholes got his marching orders for kicking out at Kevin Kilbane.

And, when the dust had settled, Everton were still entrenched in fourth spot regardless of Liverpool's win at Portsmouth that put them back in fifth but still three points behind their local rivals.

The Toffees were without skipper Alan Stubbs and full back Alessandro Pistone, both injured, which meant that Steve Watson and Joseph Yobo played in defence.

United made one change from the side that reached the FA Cup final with Sunday's demolition of Newcastle, Quinton Fortune dropping to the bench with Darren Fletcher in the starting line-up.

Wayne Rooney received a far more muted reaction on this second return to Goodison Park than he did the first time in the highly-charged FA Cup tie in February.

There was little more than regulation booing as he got off the coach and for his first few touches of the ball.

But there were also smiles from the teenager, and he even ruffled the hair of the young Everton mascot before the start.

Everton were out of the traps like men possessed, flying into tackles and hurling in the high balls, and Rooney managed to pick up a bloody nose when the ball hit him in the face following a Tony Hibbert clearance.

But running from deep, Rooney was a constant danger. On seven minutes he collected the ball 30 yards out and unleashed an instant drive that Nigel Martyn could only beat away at full stretch.

The pace was maintained, Everton made sure of that, but United's speed on the counter and the quick-fire passing of Rooney, Scholes and Cristiano Ronaldo kept Everton at full stretch.

But United did not enjoy the aerial assault, and Rio Ferdinand even less a thunderous tackle from Duncan Ferguson.

In all this physical stuff, it was little Mikel Arteta who finally found himself booked following a succession of infringements, handball being the one that saw referee Phil Dowd lose patience. The official soon had Scholes' name in the book too, for a foul on the Basque midfielder.

Everton continued to unnerve United and, when Lee Carsley pumped in the free-kick, Tim Howard was all at sea. Roy Keane headed away and Tim Cahill saw a hooked effort turned off the line by Wes Brown.

Everton were direct, determined and hounded United out of their usual composed style. Only Rooney looked up for it and he cut inside Carsley to send a curling effort wide of the post.

United almost scored soon after the break with their best move of the match, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Rooney combining to send Scholes clear in the box but Martyn was off his line in a flash to block the close-range effort.

Ferguson, who had just clattered Howard, launched himself at Fletcher and was booked.

The full-frontal assault on United continued, no-one was allowed a second to breath let alone lift their head to make a pass and Ferguson and Bent were working their socks off shutting down defenders.

And, when Ronaldo gave away a free-kick way out on the right on 55 minutes, Everton got the chance to go ahead.

Arteta's free-kick swung into the box and Ferguson got away from Ferdinand to send a fierce, low header past Howard.

The man looking to enlarge his already substantial salary from United got nowhere near the former Scotland striker and was hating every moment of the confrontation.

Rooney was lucky not to be cautioned for flattening Watson as United tried to respond.

Ronaldo and Scholes both blazed decent chances over but United were generally unable to break out of the stranglehold Everton had them in.

Ronaldo saw a fierce 15-yard drive blocked by Martyn when he should really have scored, United now desperate for any form of parity.

But their plight was soon to worsen. On 71 minutes Gary Neville kicked the ball into the crowd, directly into some Everton supporters sitting close to the byline. Referee Dowd instantly produced the red card and United were down to 10 men.

Everton were now winning every battle and, when Ronaldo dived in the box for the second time in the game, referee Dowd produced a yellow card. The youngster had made an angle for a shot, but chose to collapse at the slightest touch, just about summing up his timid display throughout.

United finished with nine men when Scholes was sent off in injury time for a wild kick at Kevin Kilbane, having already been booked.

Neville could face police probe

England defender Gary Neville could face a police investigation after being sent off for kicking the ball into the crowd as Manchester United were beaten 1-0 at Everton.

Merseyside Police have declined to make any comment on the second-half incident, but they have confirmed they will review video footage and will await any possible complaints from fans. They have asked supporters to contact them rather than Everton.

Manchester United chief Sir Alex Ferguson was also critical of his own player after Neville reacted to abuse from fans and kicked the ball into the Everton family enclosure.

Ferguson said: 'You can't kick a ball at a spectator nowadays and Gary Neville should know that. There was intimidation from spectators but you expect that, this was a derby match and Gary should have known better.

'It was a weak referee and Everton exploited that. Paul Scholes was sent off for a late tackle but how many such tackles were there from Everton players.

'They fought and hunted down every ball and too many of our shots were from outside the box, we never really opened them up.'

United finished with nine men, Scholes being sent off in injury time for kicking out at Kevin Kilbane.

Everton boss David Moyes declined to discuss the Neville incident, but added: 'I don't want to comment on the Neville incident, but felt Paul Scholes kicked out at Kevin Kilbane and it was his second yellow.'

He also dismissed an exchange of views on the touchline with Ferguson, saying: 'It was Scottish banter, managers from Scotland do have banter!'

The end product of a dramatic night, in which Liverpool won at Portsmouth but failed to cut the three-point gap on their neighbours, was that Everton took a giant step towards the Champions League.

Moyes said: 'It is close to our best performance of the season, but we are going to need a few more of those before the end of the season.

'It was only three points, but maybe three points that maybe people didn't have us down for, a proper game.

'I wish we had longer to enjoy this, but it is over now and we must start thinking about the next one on Saturday straight away.

'We have to get ready for that, we need to win the next one. The performance was excellent, the spirit and togetherness. I see them every day and I know what they are about and it has been like that for a while now, they are a terrific bunch.'

Duncan Ferguson headed the second-half winner, and Moyes said: 'We'd have taken a draw beforehand, and that would still have kept us in fourth so a lot of people were talking of where we would be after this game and we have probably surprised a few with a display like this.

'After the way United played on Sunday, people felt we couldn't match that. But they were not far short of that level against us and we matched them.'