West Ham 1 Everton 2

West Ham took an early lead in the 12th minute when a long ball from Neil put Cole clean through and Cole bundled the ball past Howard in goal and slotted the ball home right footed from 12 yards. After the goal Everton had the better of possession but West ham soaked up the pressure well for twenty minutes and looked the more dangerous on the break.

However with ten minutes to go in the half Everton started to peg West Ham back in the home side's penalty area. In the 36th minute Pienaar seemed to be partly dragged back in the box by Neil but no penalty was given. The ball eventually worked itself back to Pienaar whose shot was saved by Green. Four minutes later Pienaar found Leon Osman in the penalty area and his left-footed shot beat Green from 18 yards.

A fairly even second half saw Everton again have a little more of the possession but West Ham again looking dangerous at times on the break. Curbishley brought on Kyle Reid and Paintsil for Boa Morte and Ljungberg.

With ninety seconds until the end of ninety minutes and the game looking like it was heading towards extra time Everton got the winner. A long ball forward looked fairly easy for the West Ham defence but Gabbidon failed to clear the ball allowing Yakubu to sneak in and put the ball past Green.



Everton: Blue
West Ham: Claret