Kirkby new boy feels at home on Goodison stage

Aug 27 2007 by Ben Thornley, Liverpool Daily Post

WHILE there remains much hostility to Everton’s relocation to his hometown, Leighton Baines provided the most compelling of arguments on Saturday that – at left-back at least – the club’s future is Kirkby.

Even after 59% of Everton fans voted in favour of a switch to a new ground outside of the city boundaries, the proposed move continues to be a divisive issue among supporters.

On Saturday evening, however, the 33,000 inside Goodison were united in grief.

As this grand old ground staged an emotional tribute to the memory of Everton fanatic Rhys Jones, Baines – himself a boyhood Evertonian – realised the slain 11-year-old’s dreams with an impressive debut performance in the 1-1 draw with Blackburn Rovers.

The Goodison faithful reserve a special place in their hearts for one of their own.

And, although the 22-year-old full-back would have wished for a different backdrop in which to finally make his first outing for the club, on this evidence the £6million man will quickly establish himself as a crowd favourite.

There was also an encouraging homecoming appearance for Phil Jagielka, the former Everton trainee bringing composure to the hosts’ midfield when replacing the injured Lee Carsley shortly before the break.

His steadying presence gave Mikel Arteta, strangely subdued in the opening 45 minutes, the platform to wrest control of the plotting in the second half.

At a combined fee of less than the £11m to be shelled out on club record buy Yakubu this week, Jagielka and Baines were arguably two of the less heralded names to arrive at Goodison this summer – yet both men should prove to be integral to Everton’s success this term.

The first of David Moyes’s summer buys to be handed a starting role this campaign, Baines’s presence in the back four added balance to a defence that intriguingly boasted three sons of the borough of Knowsley, in the left-back, Alan Stubbs and Tony Hibbert.

A defence which – not for the first time this season – succumbed to a lapse of concentration for Roque Santa Cruz’s opening strike after just 16 minutes.

As much as the capture of Middlesbrough’s Nigerian striker, Baines’s transfer from Wigan – for whom he made his league debut at 17 – is a barometer of how Moyes has overhauled the perception of Everton’s ambitions outside of the club. Not so long ago the finest Merseyside talent flowed out of Goodison.

The slight defender provided a constant outlet on the left flank throughout the contest, his overlapping runs giving the hosts much-needed width – something which will serve Moyes’s men well against the Premiership’s more obdurate opponents this campaign.

Everton lack a natural winger, with both wide men, Arteta and Leon Osman, performing the majority of their work from infield positions.

Baines now has the chance to make the position his own, with Nuno Valente too blunder prone and Joleon Lescott the club’s outstanding centre half – despite Moyes’ peculiar decision to begin with the former Wolves man on the bench.

His willingness to get forward was evident from as early as the eighth minute, when racing forward to collect Stubbs’ free kick, deep in Rovers’s half. He was closed down by Brett Emerton but it set the tone for his promising display.

Shortly before Santa Cruz’s strike, Baines again stretched Mark Hughes’s defence with an overlapping run, whipping in a swift centre from the left which Everton’s strikers failed to connect with.

It will have pleased the manager to see one of his rearguard prompting attacks from the back, rather than spraying long and hopeful balls for Moyes’ diminutive front-runners to compete for.

His forays, however, never came at the expense of his defensive duties, as he proved resolute against the mercurial David Bentley – despite the majority of the Lancashire outfit’s opening play focusing down Everton’s left channel.

If it was an attempt to exploit Baines’ adventurous streak on Hughes’ part, it proved to be in vain.

That the home side did not find themselves 2-0 down just eight minutes after the opener owed everything to Baines’ presence on the line at a Rovers set piece, the England under-21 international nodding clear Cherno Samba’s powerful header.

At the other end fellow new boy Jagielka came agonisingly close to making a perfect Goodison introduction just before the hour mark, when glancing Andrew Johnson’s centre wide.

There was still time for Jagielka to incur the wrath of Hughes with a reckless tackle on Morten Gamst Pedersen, although an earlier, eye-catching challenge on former Liverpool full-back Stephen Warnock proved to be particularly popular with the home crowd.