Everton FC 0, Liverpool FC 2: Happy Days for Rafa Benitez as the Fonz looks on

Nov 30 2009 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

IT WAS almost as if Bill Kenwright was actively tempting fate. Never one to miss the opportunity of raising his club’s profile, the Everton owner invited Henry Winkler, better known as the Fonz, as a guest of honour at Goodison yesterday.

But this was anything but a happy day for the Blue half of Merseyside as Liverpool continued their hold over this Premier League fixture to kickstart their campaign and nudge their neighbours further towards a winter of discontent.

Winkler, who is playing Captain Hook in pantomime in the city this Christmas, looked on as Everton largely dominated a frenetic, sub-standard derby only to be undermined by poor fortune and poor finishing.

As Esther Ranzten, another celebrity to drop in on the local spat, might well say, that’s life.

Certainly, Rafael Benitez is unlikely to feel much sympathy towards Goodison counterpart David Moyes having grown tired of dwelling on his team’s ill fortune in recent times.

There could be no such complaints yesterday, however. From the moment Javier Mascherano’s speculative 25-yard effort struck the boot of Joseph Yobo and looped beyond Tim Howard into the goal in the 12th minute, the evidence was there to suggest Liverpool’s luck was finally beginning to change.

Of course, it will take more than one scrappy, fortuitous victory to convince that a hugely disappointing season has turned a decisive corner.

But the confidence taken from this victory – Liverpool’s eighth in their last 10 league visits to Goodison – cannot be underestimated, particularly given the manner in which a much-derided defence held firm in the face of concerted Everton pressure.

How apt Pepe Reina should emerge as an influential figure yesterday, the goalkeeper having been one of the few consistently shining lights during a gloomy autumn for Benitez.

It was his stupendous double save from Tim Cahill and Marouane Fellaini 20 minutes from time that ensured an all-too-rare Premier League clean sheet for Liverpool and knock the wind out of Everton’s sails.

Few could have quibbled had the home side earned at least a point. Moyes’s men played the better football in responding to their manager’s call to stand up and be counted after the horrors at Hull City last Wednesday.

No more so than Steven Pienaar, by far the game’s most creative force until understandably fading in the soggy conditions.

The South African was aided by Fellaini, who produced by some distance his best display of the season and whose aerial prowess – which overstepped the mark with one challenge that drew blood from Lucas – caused Liverpool continued problems.

But for all their application, effort and desire, the touch of class and guile that may have made the difference was lacking, Everton eventually resorting to punting long balls into the area in the forlorn hope Liverpool’s defence would cough up a mistake.

Yes, the harsh facts make for painful reading. One win in 11. Six points from a possible 24. Three points off the relegation places. Not to mention the failure of the Destination Kirkby project. Yet despite being dragged ever nearer the drop zone, surely Everton will only be looking up the table if they can build on this form in the coming weeks.

Liverpool, too, can afford to realign their sights with the top four now within touching distance once again after responding well to their Champions League exit five days earlier.

With Fernando Torres having failed a fitness test on his sportsman’s hernia and Steven Gerrard patently half-fit, the visitors were forced to dig deep and demonstrate a resilience and character that has been curiously lacking at times during this campaign.