RHYS JONES: Everton equaliser is dedicated to Rhys’ memory

Aug 27 2007 by Nick Smith, Liverpool Daily Post

James McFadden (158)

JAMES McFADDEN saved Everton from defeat against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday then dedicated his goal to the memory of Rhys Jones.

Ahead of the 1-1 draw, Goodison Park stood for a minute’s applause for the 11-year-old who was shot and killed in Croxteth on Wednesday night.

The parents and brother of Everton fanatic Rhys were at the side of the pitch during emotional scenes in the build-up to the game.

And McFadden, who levelled the game by turning in Mikel Arteta’s cross 12 minutes from time, revealed how the players had been affected by the tragic death of the youngster.

“I’d like to dedicate the goal to Rhys Jones and his family. Hopefully they can get the person who did it and hopefully it can help them a bit,” McFadden said.

“We’ve had minutes’ applause before for people and they are never nice times but it was especially hard today.

“Personally it shook me a bit. This is a boy who’s gone out for a game of football and been gunned down in such terrible circumstances.

“It shakes you when you see his picture up on the board, it’s not nice. When you’ve got kids yourself it’s a horrible feeling.

“It was hard to get going at the start of the game because you couldn’t shake it from the back of your mind but hopefully we put on a decent enough performance for his family.

“I know that’s not going to comfort them because at the end of the day it’s only a game of football but he’s passionate about his football so it was nice to sneak a point in the end.

“I’ve got a little boy of 15 months and you want to see them growing up. It’s tragic.”

Meanwhile, Blackburn manager Mark Hughes was delighted his new big money striker Roque Santa Cruz has settled so well into English football.

He said: “I am impressed with Santa Cruz. People are now starting to see what a talent he is, the one thing that was levelled at him was a question over his goalscoring record, but he has done more than okay in a very difficult league. I am impressed with his technical ability and his work ethic which is outstanding.”

Hughes added: “We needed a second goal to take the game away from them, but you know that there will always be a strong response from Everton in a second half if they are losing and we were not surprised.

“They get the ball into the box a lot, and they got their reward. Maybe we could have closed them down quicker when they got the ball in for the equaliser.

“But it was a perfect day for us right up until those last minutes.”