Goodison Park: Everton 1-1 Crystal Palace

Everton 1-1 Crystal Palace

Similar to Bramall Lane the day previous, it has been over 15 years since my last visit and with an imminent move to Bramley Moore Dock in 2025, this looks to be my last visit to Goodison Park too. Four matches in four days for me which consists of Leicester City v Middlesbrough at the King Power Stadium on Saturday, Sheffield United v Brighton and Hove Albion at Bramall Lane on Sunday, Everton v Crystal Palace at Goodison Park on Monday and finishing with MK Dons v Wrexham at Stadium MK on Tuesday. I set off at 1.30pm northbound on the M1 then onto the A50 towards Stoke-on-Trent before joining the M6 heading to my first stop of the day, Warrington Rylands 1906 who play at Gorsey Lane. I then continued my journey towards Liverpool with a stop at Bootle's New Bucks Park, only a 15 minute drive away from Goodison Park. With time on my side, I managed to squeeze in a brief visit to Everton's new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock which, it has to be said, is very impressive! My final stop was Cravenhurst Road where I would be parking my car before making the short half a mile walk to the famous old Goodison Park. With a glimmer of sunlight left, I managed to walk across Stanley Park for a brief visit to Liverpool's Anfield stadium which has seen development to both the Main Stand and more recently the Anfield Road End. Across Stanley Park, the hustle and bustle of match day at Goodison Park was in full swing with swarms of fans greeting the Crystal Palace and then the Everton team bus to the grand old stadium. Around the ground, pubs, cafes and other eateries were heaving with Evertonians, a sight in the coming years that will suddenly disappear when Everton move to the banks of the River Mersey. Goodison Park has been Everton's home since it was built in 1892 and currently has a modern day capacity of 39,414. In 1926, Archibald Leitch designed the two-tier steel frame and wooden floor Bullens Road Stand which features Leitch's highly distinctive balcony trusses. Goodison Park is the only stadium with two complete trusses designed by Leitch. Of the 17 created, only Goodison Park, Ibrox and Fratton Park retain these trusses. Few changes were made until 1963 when the rear of the Paddock was seated and an overhanging roof was added. In 1938, Archibald Leitch designed the Gwladys Street End which cost £50,000 to complete. The Goodison Road Stand was partially demolished and rebuilt during the 1969–70 season with striking images of both old and new stands side by side. The new stand opened 1971, at a cost of £1 million. The newest stand at Goodison Park is the Park End which opened in 1994. With a capacity of 5,750, it is the smallest stand at Goodison and it's the only single tier stand. Everton made many innovative changes to Goodison Park over the years. The first floodlit match at Goodison Park took place when Everton hosted Liverpool on 9 October 1957 in front of 58,771 supporters. Just a year later, Goodison Park was fitted with the first undersoil heating system in English football, a feature which to this day has been adopted across the majority of top flight clubs. Everton were also the first club to have a scoreboard installed in England. During the 1966 World Cup, Goodison Park hosted numerous matches including the Semi Final and saw the likes of Pele, Beckenbauer and Eusébio grace the Goodison Park hallowed turf during the tournament. With Roy Hodgson stepping down as manager just hours before kick off and new manager Oliver Glasner watching from the directors box, it was an important match for both sides who sat 16th and 18th before the match. Had it not been for a 10 points deduction, Everton would be sat comfortably mid table and this season have defensively been strong only conceding 32 goals prior to kick off which is very much comparable to the current top six in the Premier League. As for Crystal Palace it's almost a season to forget with the sale of Wilfred Zaha last summer, a pile up of injuries to key players such as Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze to name a few which has been topped off with the recent health scare of Roy Hodgson amid speculation regarding his job. Both Everton and Palace are one of the lowest scoring sides in the Premier League so I wasn't expecting a goal fest! Everton's best chance of the first half came on 23 minutes when Dominic Calvert-Lewin rose between two Palace defenders but his header from a Dwight McNeil cross went wide of the post. In the 39th minute, a Palace corner from the left was whipped in and Jean-Philippe Mateta had a header blocked on the line by Everton's Ashley Young who was standing at the far post. Early in the second half, new signing from Blackburn Rovers, Adam Wharton, put a looping ball through for Mateta to chase and then hold up with pressure from James Tarkowski, he then managed to turn and put a ball through to Tyrick Mitchell who's left foot shot was blocked by the Everton shot stopper. In the 64th minute, an Everton corner from the left was whipped in with Tarkowski's bulleting header saved by Sam Johnstone who then reacted well to deny Abdoulaye Doucoure at the near post. Just two minutes later, Crystal Palace broke the deadlock. A looping header by Odsonne Édouard to Mateta was held up with pressure from Everton's Jarrad Branthwaite, once again, he managed to turn and put a ball through for Ghana forward Jordan Ayew thumped a superb strike into the far corner past Pickford to make it 1-0 to the visitors. Mateta once again made use of his aerial presence. In the 80th minute, another superb ball was delivered by Dwight McNeil and Calvert-Lewin headed wide once more. The Everton pressure continued as they pressed for an equaliser. Just three minutes later, McNeil had a go himself. A Tarkowski ball pumped into the box from the right was knocked down by Calvert-Lewin for McNeil to let fire from 20 yards, however, Eagle's keeper Johnstone pushed away to his left for a corner. From the resulting corner, a ball was whipped in from the right by McNeil which met the head of substitute Amadou Onana who in front of the Gwladys Street End fired home on 84 minutes to make it 1-1. An uninspiring match however an important point for both sides who both moved up a place in the Premier League table to 15th and 17th. This was likely to be my last visit to Goodison Park before they move to their new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock ready for the 2025/26 season. Goodison Park is one of the last old traditional football grounds and the day they leave will be a sad day for Evertonians. However, financial issues aside, the future does look bright for Everton and I'm sure their new stadium will be the catalyst for progression. At the final whistle, I made a dash for the exit heading back up Walton Lane to my car on Cravenhurst Road then made my way out of the city via Queens Drive before joining the M62 then the M6 making my way back to the East Midlands just before midnight. Next stop, Stadium MK!

Everton 0-3 Portsmouth

Goodison Park is home of Everton (The Toffees). A good old fashion ground set around a terraced housed area. Goodison Park is an old fashion English ground just like Villa Park and the former Arsenal home, Highbury. The ground hasn't changed apart from the fairly new Park stand. The two joined stands, the Gwladys stand and the Bullens Road stand (part of the lower tier homes Away supporters) are both impressive two tiered joined by a corner. The massive Main stand is a three tiered which stands at a tall height (Don't worry there are escalators up but not down). Adrian and I sat at the top of the Main stand (The Balcony), which is where you get very good views from not only inside the ground but also outside. The game finished Portsmouth wining 3-0, goals by Defoe, Johnson and Crouch. May we recommend you have a look around the City of "culture" (yeah Liverpool!) as there are a number of landmarks like the two-cathedrals, the docks and also the Dixie Dean statue behind the Park stand.

Goodison Park

Wednesday 21 February 2024

Everton 1-1 Crystal Palace

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