NEVER mind no Goodison striker scoring in the Premier League so far this season, Evertonians had been waiting over three years to see this kind of goal from Ayegbeni Yakubu.

Since arriving for a then club-record £11.25million from Middlesbrough in August 2007, the Nigerian’s time on Merseyside has certainly been an eventful one.

The rollercoaster ride started with a debut strike at Bolton followed by the seemingly inevitable barren spell.

Despite being dropped for a late return home from the African Cup of Nations, Yakubu still managed to finish his first season in a royal blue jersey as the only Everton player to break the 20-goal barrier during the Premier League era.

The following November, Yakubu suffered an Archilles tendon injury at White Hart Lane and although he returned to competitive action some nine months later, David Moyes warned it might be some time before the player was back to his best.

Question marks still remain as to whether the 27-year-old remains capable of recapturing the prolific kind of form that saw him net 100 goals in his first five years in the English game but against Stoke Yakubu did show one new string to his bow.

Incredibly this was the first time he had netted ‘a winning goal’ for Everton in a Premier League game.

Among Yakubu’s 33 Everton goals there had been a couple of hat-tricks and various efforts in matches that proved to be one-goal victories for Moyes’ men.

But never before in 38 months with the club had Yakubu scored the decisive strike in a top flight game when the scores had been level.