David Moyes: Phil Neville's Man Utd tackle kick-started Everton's season

Apr 18 2009 Ian Doyle

WHEN sitting back to analyse a long, arduous campaign, managers will often pinpoint a turning point of the season, the one pivotal moment that kickstarted a stuttering team into life.

Often it is a battling performance, an odds-defying victory, a decisive goal or even a game-changing save.

But for David Moyes, Everton’s season truly began as a result of one simple tackle.

Manchester United were leading 1-0 at Goodison on October 25 against a side that had won only two of 11 games and already slithered miserably out of the Carling and UEFA Cups.

Then, in the 58th minute, Phil Neville launched into a crunching challenge that sent Cristiano Ronaldo sprawling and brought a previously subdued home crowd to its feet.

Neville may have been unfairly booked, but it was a price worth paying. Within five minutes, the skipper crossed for Marouane Fellaini to score his first goal since his record-breaking £15million arrival and earn a point for a revitalised Everton.

Moyes’s men have not looked back, losing only four of their subsequent 28 games to reaffirm their place in the Premier League’s top six and negotiate a passage to Wembley where United tomorrow stand in the way of a place in the FA Cup final.

And the Goodison manager says of Neville’s bone-crunching challenge: “I remember it. I think everybody thought it was a bad tackle but actually when you see it, it was a perfectly good tackle.

“I think that was one of the moments. I think there have been other moments, when things have changed games. Things like that give you a bit of momentum.

“But after that tackle, we went out in the second half and got a decent point against Manchester United.”