Moyes: Nation wants us to win

Jan 8 2008 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

DAVID MOYES believes the majority of the country will be behind Everton this evening as they aim to take a significant step towards a first final in 13 years.

The Goodison Park outfit are at Stamford Bridge for the first leg of their Carling Cup semi-final against holders Chelsea.

It’s the first time Everton have reached this stage of the tournament in 20 years, with their last-four appearance in any knockout competition coming during their glorious FA Cup campaign in 1995.

Middlesbrough’s League Cup victory over Bolton Wanderers in 2004 is the only time one of the so-called big four has failed to lift a major domestic honour in the last six years.

And Moyes reckons most neutrals want to see that stranglehold loosened this season.

“I think so, I hope so,” said the Goodison manager. “I think a lot of people like to see other sides break into it and Tottenham have a chance against Arsenal as well.

“I think it’s been a while since Bolton and Middlesbrough got there and for a lot of people it would be good to see it altered.

“But it’s very hard to break in as the top sides need to look to win a trophy this season.

“The draw is as tough as we could have got. Chelsea are always well focused on getting through and entering to win this competition.”

Everton go into the game having suffered their first cup defeat of the season on Saturday, when Coca-Cola League One team Oldham Athletic secured a shock 1-0 win at Goodison in their FA Cup third round tie.

Moyes is confident his players can bounce back from that surprise exit, while admitting the time has come for his team to begin turning progress into silverware.

“I’ve always valued the league, it’s really important, but we are looking to compete a bit more in the cup competitions,” he said.

“That sounds a bit silly after Saturday but it’s a fact. I think the supporters would really enjoy a trophy but I can’t have that loose a tongue and speak like winning a cup final. I can’t do that at the moment, not with the level of competition which is ahead of us.

“But we need to now be challenging for trophies. This is a major test for us and we’ll have to see where we are.

“We’ve been on top of it because we’ve played well for most of the season. We had a day on Saturday where it just wasn’t our day. We have to move on and put it aside as we’ve got other things to concentrate on.”

Everton have won 11 games away from home this season, and also grabbed a fine 1-1 Premier League draw at Stamford Bridge in November thanks to Tim Cahill’s acrobatic last-minute overhead kick.

And Moyes said: “We’ve done well away from home in cup competitions this season

so this will be the biggest test of that.

“We hope we can upset them. When we played at Stamford Bridge a few weeks ago they got too much, we got a good result from it but I would hope we can do better than we did in that game.”

Meanwhile, young Everton striker Scott Spencer has joined Coca-Cola League One side Yeovil Town on loan until February 4.

Everton have confirmed the dates for their UEFA Cup tie against Brann Bergen of Norway. The first leg will take place on Wednesday, February 13 at the Brann Stadion (kick-off 7pm UK time) while the return match at Goodison is on Thursday, February 21.