COMMENT: Just the start of what might be a roller coaster ride

Oct 5 2007 COMMENT by Ian Doyle

DP Sport: Ian Doyle column image

DAVID MOYES entered a defining moment of his Everton reign last night with a simple message from the travelling supporters: “Failure is not an option.”

With painful memories of the last adventure abroad still fresh in the mind, the Goodison faithful travelled east to the Ukraine unwilling to accept their team were about to allow a European campaign slip through their fingers once again.

Having been given unprecedented backing in the summer on the strength of Everton’s UEFA Cup qualification and with the ghosts of those previous European horror shows still loitering around Goodison, last night was an important victory for Moyes.

Typically, though, his team had to do it the hard way.

Although sharing the same shocking all-yellow kit, Metalist Kharkiv have nowhere near the pedigree of Villarreal, Moyes’s nemesis of two years ago. Nevertheless, Everton were seemingly intent on placing Metalist on the same pedestal as the Spanish side.

During the first leg, the Ukrainians were thankful for Andrew Johnson’s penalty howlers. Last night, it was Everton’s porous defence, usually their most valued asset, that did most to keep Metalist in the tie.

While Everton were playing only their 51st game in Europe – contrast that to the 49 of neighbours Liverpool under Rafael Benitez alone – there was sufficient European and international experience in their line-up to have avoided the nerve-shredding events of last night.

Moyes the manager, however, is not yet as qualified, and perhaps Everton’s travels abroad during the past two years have been as much a learning experience for the Scot as anyone else.

Certainly, his decision to employ Phil Jagielka and Leon Osman at the heart of a standard 4-4-2 formation backfired, the pair overrun by a Metalist midfield whose close, accurate passing made it all too easy to cut through the visitors.

You wonder what Lee Carsley, a driving force in the team that earned a top-six place last season yet who curiously remained on the bench last night, made of what was happening.

It was only when Moyes replaced Phil Jagielka with Victor Anichebe that the tide began to inexorably turn.

The striker had been a nuisance to Metalist a fortnight ago, and his presence unruffled the Ukrainian defence sufficiently for James McFadden to net the crucial second away goal before the Nigerian secured victory on the night with a coolly-taken late strike.

The contribution of both goalscorers was integral, as was Joleon Lescott, whose stock is again rising after a shaky start to the campaign.

The defender, operating at left-back, was by some distance Everton’s finest defender and equalised Edmar’s first-half opener with his fifth goal of the season – maintaining his position as the club’s top scorer.

Yes, Everton rode their luck and yes, perhaps Metalist had been underestimated, a mistake that cannot be repeated whoever the Goodison outfit face in the next stage of the competition.

The lack of any decent cup run has been a major omission from Moyes’s Goodison CV.

Now the Everton manager and his players have the chance to benefit from the exposure to four UEFA Cup group games.

If last night’s evidence is anything to by, it’s sure to be a roller-coaster ride worth catching.