AEK Athens 0 Everton FC 1: Everton leave the ruins way behind

Dec 3 2009 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

IN the shadow of the city’s historic ruins, Everton began the process of rebuilding their season in Athens last night.

A hard-earned victory amid monsoon-like conditions earned David Moyes’s side passage to the knockout stages of the Europa League.

But the manager will hope this triumph also acts as the catalyst for a change in the domestic fortunes of his side.

Typical of this most testing of campaigns, Everton were forced to do things the hard way for only a second win in 12 games.

Already missing a clutch of first-team regulars, Moyes saw his gameplan further disrupted by injuries to Dan Gosling and Sylvain Distin inside the opening 18 minutes, the crocked duo joined by Jo during the second half.

But given the platform of Diniyar Bilyaletdinov’s sixth-minute goal, the Goodison outfit called upon their deep reserves of character and resolve to hold off a strong second-half fightback from AEK Athens.

Such effort was epitomised by Tony Hibbert. The defender, making his 19th European appearance to equal the club record held jointly by Colin Harvey and Brian Labone, marked the occasion with an outstanding display as a makeshift centre-back for the third successive Europa League away game.

That experience came to the fore as Hibbert guided both 17-year-old debutant Shane Duffy, on for the injured Distin, and 21-year-old right-back Seamus Coleman, making only his second appearance, through the match as Everton secured a first clean sheet in 13 outings.

With another 17-year-old, Jose Baxter, also thrown into the fray, Moyes’s squad had reached breaking point, yet AEK, beset by their own problems, never really threatened the win that would have taken Everton’s Europa League destiny out of their own hands.

Benfica’s victory against BATE Borisov in Group I’s other fixture last night meant the Goodison outfit qualified for the last 32 with a game to spare.

And although comprehensively outplayed in both games against the Portuguese, Moyes’s men have, by the admission of AEK coach Dusan Bajevic, thoroughly merited their progress.

Everton had impressed in unfortunate derby defeat to Liverpool on Sunday, but the atrocious conditions in Athens meant this wasn’t an evening for silky one-touch football.

Instead, the confidence gleaned from that display manifested itself in other ways, the youngsters and their more senior colleagues rising to the challenge, most notably the untried central midfield partnership of Steven Pienaar and Marouane Fellaini who both continued their encouraging form by running themselves into the sodden ground.

That the Olympic Stadium’s glorified golf buggy was perhaps the evening’s most prominent performer spoke volumes of Everton’s continuing injury jinx.

There had been a genuine fear the game wouldn’t even go ahead as the pitch, having already caused concern among the Goodison ranks, became sodden by the heavy downpours to have struck Athens during the previous 24 hours.

With puddles of standing water around the pitch affecting the roll of the ball, it was clear from the early moments the surface could prove dangerous.

So it proved for Gosling, the teenager leaving the field less than 10 minutes in after catching his studs in the turf while stretching for a pass and twisting his right leg.

He was followed eight minutes later by Distin, the centre-back aggravating the hamstring strain that had made him a major doubt before the game.