After 130 years of going head-to-head, Everton and Liverpool face each other in the final Goodison Park Merseyside Derby on Wednesday.

It’s a landmark moment for sport in the city during what is an historic farewell campaign for the first purpose-built football ground in England and venue for the most top flight matches plus five World Cup games, including a semi-final. To preview the big event, here’s a look back at 20 of Everton’s most memorable Merseyside Derbies played at Goodison Park.

Given that this is being written by the ECHO’s Everton reporter telling the story of the Blues at ‘The Grand Old Lady,’ Liverpool’s 5-0 win in 1982 is not included but for historical context, they’re not all home victories and there is even one Reds success on the list.

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1. THE FIRST MERSEYSIDE DERBY

October 13, 1894: Everton 3 Liverpool 0

The Merseyside Derby is the fixture that can bring the greatest joy and despair to the fans in England’s most-passionate football city, and this is where it all started. Although there have been strong showings from Manchester and London in recent decades, Liverpool remains the unofficial footballing capital in the game’s homeland, holding the unique distinction of being the only city to have hosted top flight football in every single season since the Football League began.

Whatever the Blues and Reds think about their neighbours, they have spurred each other on for over 130 years now in a way that other dual-club regions have failed to do. Without Everton FC, there would be no Liverpool FC and if it wasn’t for Liverpool FC, there would have been no Goodison Park.

The Liverpool Mercury reported: “The long-looked-for meeting of these local rivals excited all the interest anticipated. A great game from a scientific point of view was not expected, but the public appetite was whetted by the fact that Everton and Liverpool were to oppose each other seriously and in full strength for the first time in their history.

“The event recalled recollections of those keen games in which Everton and Bootle some six or seven years ago used to take part; but the parallel ends with keen local rivalry. The entertainment on Saturday surpassed in attractiveness every great event that had occurred before.”

2. EVERTON'S BIGGEST DERBY WIN AT GOODISON

April 9, 1909: Everton 5 Liverpool 0

This result remains Everton’s biggest victory over Liverpool at Goodison Park. The Blues would later equal the record with a 5-0 win at Anfield on 3 October 1914, en route to their second League Championship in the wartime 1914/15 season, but on home turf they would never overcome their local rivals by such a scoreline again.

The Liverpool Courier reported of “Everton’s splendid victory” that: “The struggles of Everton and Liverpool are always a source of unbounded interest, and on these occasions, partisanship runs exceedingly high, but when the meeting occurs on Good Friday; football excitement in the city is at an unusually high pitch. It was a game, which bristled with good points, and in which both sides were hard triers, and very often the football was of a high-class order.

“Such a wide margin as five goals to nothing with which Everton managed to win, was not generally expected, although no one will begrudge the Blues their success, as they earned it by a style and standard of play which was superior to that of Liverpool. There was scarcely a weak spot in the home eleven, all of whom, worked together with thorough understanding, with the result that for the greater part of the game they more than held their own.”

3. BIGGEST EVER CROWD FOR A FOOTBALL GAME IN THE CITY

September 18, 1948: Everton 1 Liverpool 1

As an historical footnote, this game was Goodison Park’s record attendance (78,299) but the fact it also proved to be the last fixture before Everton chose to replace their first official manager Theo Kelly had the greater long-term significance. Between 1935-9, teams were picked by committees but following the 1938/39 Championship season, secretary Kelly manoeuvred himself into the position of being Everton’s first manager.

As for the match itself, Stork speculated in the ECHO that the attendance record might be broken, observing: “Each section of the ground looked to be well and truly packed, and there were many thousands outside.”

Much was made of Everton selecting six of their 1939 title-winning side for the fixture and Stork said: “All good footballers admittedly but with a big streak of age,” adding: “the big surprise was the staying power of the old guard, they were up and down doing right to the end, playing as well as any of the younger members.”

Liverpool’s Willie Fagan broke the deadlock 10 minutes from full-time with “the ball going in off the upright.”

However, Jock Dodds earned a share of the spoils for Everton by equalising from the penalty spot four minutes later with “a pile-driver that Cyril Sidlow got his hand to,” after full-back Bill Shepherd “had took over the goalkeeper’s role and tipped Wally Boyes’ shot over the bar,” in an era when you could do that and still not be sent off.

4. FIRST UNDER FLOODLIGHTS

October 9, 1957: Everton 2 Liverpool 0

Goodison Park under the lights has often produced a special atmosphere for players and fans alike but for the first half of the ground’s existence there was no such thing. Midweek matches had to be finished before dusk – particularly tricky in winter – which obviously hampered attendances too.

However, the development of lighting technology – and gradual acceptance of the English football authorities to embrace it – would pave the way for the night-time fixtures that many prefer and of course the scope for continental competition between Europe’s leading clubs.

As Rob Sawyer explained in his illuminating article The Story of Goodison Park under Floodlights on the Everton fan website Toffeeweb, Anfield had played host to trial matches using gas-fuelled Wells Lights when Everton still played there in 1890 but while the interesting novelty drew in crowds, the light was deemed insufficient for sporting contests. Sawyer added that with the bill coming to £38,000 – just shy of £1million in today’s prices – the Blues had considered inviting an overseas opponent but with Anfield also installing floodlights (their ones only cost £12,000), a two-legged Floodlit Challenge Cup competition against Liverpool was devised.

With no League derbies since 1951 due to first Everton and then Liverpool’s spells in the Second Division, there was an appetite for the two local rivals to meet and a silver-gilt cup valued at £300 was commissioned to be contested. Both goals for Everton came from Eddie Thomas, who was a modern player in this modern match given that he was a substitute.

5. FIRST IN THE LEAGUE FOR OVER 11 YEARS

September 22, 1962: Everton 2 Liverpool 2

It’s often said that absence makes the heart grow fonder but while there was no love lost between Everton and Liverpool after some 11 years and eight months since their last League derby meeting, the respective sets of players – and their fans – relished the prospect of resuming hostilities. In the 4,264 days since Everton had triumphed at Anfield on 20 January 1951, the sides had met just once in a competitive clash, Liverpool’s shock 4-0 win at Goodison in the FA Cup fourth round on 29 January 1955.

Leslie Edwards of the ECHO chronicled the big match atmosphere and wrote: ‘A just verdict – but only just! That, in a sentence, sums up the memorable game at Goodison Park.

“It was hard, exciting, entertaining, noisy, tense and fluctuating but never a football classic.

“How could it be, with the atmosphere so charged – with dynamite?”

The deadlock was broken through Roy Vernon’s 29th minute penalty as he coolly smashed the ball low to Furnell’s left after Gerry Byrne had handled. Kevin Lewis equalised six minutes later with a hooked shot from close range but Johnny Morrissey – transferred from Liverpool to Everton just a month earlier – netted his first goal for his new club with a right-foot drive Ronnie Moran tried to swipe clear but the ball had gone over the line.

The Blues would be denied victory by a last-minute equaliser from Roger Hunt though as he pounced on Lewis’ nod down to beat Gordon West to the ball and poke home.

6. THE CITY'S GREATEST TROPHY DISPLAY

August 13, 1966: Everton 0 Liverpool 1

The city of Liverpool has accumulated 28 League Championships and 13 FA Cups between its two professional clubs but never had such a glittering array of trophies been present at a single game than on this proud day. As well as the Charity Shield that was being contested, hosts Everton paraded the FA Cup that they had won in May by coming from 2-0 down to defeat manager Harry Catterick’s previous club Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 while Liverpool showed off the League Championship they had won for the second time in three seasons under Bill Shankly.

In addition to all that silverware, there was also a small but extremely value prize made of gold-plated sterling silver and lapis lazuli – an intense deep blue semi-precious stone – the Jules Rimet Trophy (original World Cup). This came courtesy of Everton left-back Ray Wilson and Liverpool forward Roger Hunt who both played for England in the 4-2 extra time win over West Germany in the World Cup final just a fortnight earlier, while Hunt’s Anfield team-mates Gerry Byrne and Ian Callaghan were also members of Alf Ramsey’s squad.

On this occasion, the pre-match parade proved a greater spectacle than the match itself. Leslie Edwards of the ECHO wrote: “For me the game did not even come alive.

“It never produced the sparkling, sustained moves one anticipated from teams which had won the League Championship and the FA Cup. Maybe the World Cup had sated one’s appetite? It was for many of the 63,000 present, more an occasion to remember for the appearance in the lap of honour, of the three trophies in the collection of which this city has had such a hand.

“The sight of Roger Hunt and Ray Wilson, sharing a grip of the World Cup with Brian Labone and Ron Yeats, a few paces behind, carrying their trophies, was as unforgettable as any great moment, including Dixie’s sixtieth, at Goodison Park.”

Although Hunt had watched on while fellow England frontman Geoff Hurst had helped himself to a hat-trick at Wembley two weeks earlier, the Liverpool forward netted the only goal of the game on nine minutes. Galvanised into action, Harry Catterick would add another World Cup winner to his ranks just a couple of days later in the shape of Wembley man-of-the-match Alan Ball for an English record fee of £110,000 from Blackpool.

7. 105,000 FANS WATCH ON BOTH SIDES OF STANLEY PARK

March 11, 1967: Everton 1 Liverpool 0

Thanks to large screens being installed at Anfield to relay the action from Goodison Park, a record-breaking 105,000 fans watched Everton triumph against Liverpool in this historic FA Cup fifth round tie. Pathé News produced a short film on how the experiment by ABC Television of relaying the live footage between the two grounds either side of Stanley Park was deemed a success.

Their engineers fought against 45mph gales to erect eight 30ft by 40ft screens around Anfield, costing £500 each, with tickets for a 40,149 crowd at the Reds home selling out within 36 hours of going on sale.

Other than one of the screens being lifted for a few seconds by a gust of wind, the action from Goodison, where 64,851, including Howard Kendall who had joined the Blues the previous day, watched Alan Ball net the winner on the stroke of half-time, was viewed clearly, even if the outcome didn’t please Kopites.

One well-told tale from the day surrounds celebrity Liverpool fan Jimmy Tarbuck trudging out of Anfield after the full-time whistle with the usual gap-toothed grin wiped off his face by the result, only to be told by a fellow comedian: “Don’t worry Jimmy – it’s only a film!”

8. ANDY IS OUR KING TO SCRATCH SEVEN YEAR ITCH

October 28, 1978: Everton 1 Liverpool 0

Everton scratched the seven-year itch after going 15 Merseyside Derbies without victory before their number seven Andy King netted a memorable match-winner against Liverpool. Luton-born King, who was a real fan favourite with the Goodison Park crowd, infamously had an attempted touchline interview with Grandstand abruptly cut short by a policeman who insisted that both he and the reporter: “Get off the pitch” but once he did get to speak after the crowd had gone home, remarked: “It is beyond a dream.”

The Blues hadn’t beaten the Reds since David Johnson – a man who would go on to net winners for both sides in Merseyside Derbies – scored in a 1-0 victory at Goodison on 13 November 1971. Back in 1971, Everton were level with Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal at the top of the English football food chain with seven titles apiece but in the subsequent years their local rivals had dominated both at home and abroad with Phil Thompson admitting he was: “As sick as a parrot” to relinquish the seven-year unbeaten record in the fixture.

Despite the one-sided nature of Derbies over several seasons, both teams went into this top-of-the-table fixture in fine form with Liverpool at the summit and Everton undefeated. King’s match-winner was a sweet half volley from inside the ‘D’ after Martin Dobson had nodded down Mike Pejic’s lofted ball into the box.

Writing in the ECHO, Charles Lambert explained just how much the result meant to long-suffering Evertonians: “Very rarely over the last few years have Liverpool been the bridesmaids rather than the bride, but that was their lot at Goodison Park. Seven years is an awfully long time for a club in such a football-mad area as Merseyside to wait for a victory over their rivals.”

9. VARADI HAS THE REDS EATING HUMBLE PIE

January 24, 1981: Everton 2 Liverpool 1

Everton hero Imre Varadi says that scoring what proved to be the winning goal in an FA Cup Merseyside Derby had him licking his lips, if only to wipe away the meat and potato pie supposedly flung at his face by an irate Liverpool fan. Recalling the incident in which the savoury staple of British football terraces was chucked in his direction after he netted at the Park End, the striker told the ECHO: “I was so excited I ran around the back of the goal not realising it was full of away supporters. I incurred the wrath of an angry Liverpool fan who chucked a meat and potato pie straight into my face... I can still taste it now!”

Everton’s opener on 17 minutes is credited to Peter Eastoe but appeared to be an own goal by Avi Cohen. The pace of Eastoe’s flicked shot was dulled by a save from Ray Clemence who had come rushing out, but the ball was still goalbound before Phil Neal attempted to clear it off the line only for it to ricochet into the net anyway off his Israeli team-mate.

Varadi’s goal on the hour mark was a close-range effort into the roof of the net after he was picked out by Eamonn O’Keefe, who had tried to round Clemence but had been taken wide. Case’s left-foot finish from six yards out with 14 minutes remaining had Everton nerves jangling but Varadi still had time to miss a sitter with his shot off target after dribbling his way past Clemence.

10. CLARKE DENIES LIVERPOOL 'TEAM OF THE CENTURY' TAG

March 20, 1988: Everton 1 Liverpool 0

Jubilant Evertonians were certainly Singing the Blues this night after Wayne Clarke’s goal prevented Liverpool from setting a new top flight unbeaten record. Everton supporters of course love to belt out their own version of Guy Mitchell’s 1956 Number One hit song with adapted lyrics whenever their own team triumph and their neighbours are beaten and it’s all the more sweeter for them if those two permutations are achieved from the same fixture.

Back in 1988, Liverpool were attempting to become the first team to go 30 games unbeaten from the start of a First Division season. They’d already equalled Leeds United’s 29-match run from 1973/74, prompting The Mirror to proclaim that if they avoided defeat at Goodison Park then they would be ‘the team of the century.’

For match-winner Wayne Clarke, family pride was also at stake ensuring the victory was celebrated with as much relish in West Yorkshire as it was among the Blue half of Merseyside. The Everton striker was the youngest of five brothers to play professional football, alongside Frank, Derek, Kelvin and of course Allan, who was part of that great Leeds United side under Don Revie, and present at Goodison for this game.

Wayne Clarke recalled: “I was pleased Allan was there; I was pleased to score of course but more pleased, really, for him. We hadn’t talked before about the game or the record at all during the week but when I met him beforehand, he said he wanted two things from me – a car park ticket and the winning goal.”

11. MERSEYSIDE UNITES TO HONOUR HILLSBOROUGH DEAD

3 May 3, 1989: Everton 0 Liverpool 0

After the greatest ever loss of life at a European football ground, it seemed fitting that Liverpool made their return to competitive action against Everton. On April 15, 1989, 94 fans died in a human crush at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the Leppings Lane End of Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough stadium.

This figure had increased to 95 by the time the Reds took to the Goodison Park turf and for many years was 96 before going up to 97 when Andrew Devine died in 2021. Ahead of the Derby game, a line of linked Everton and Liverpool scarves tied together surrounded the pitch and Ken Rogers of the ECHO vividly depicted the events before kick-off.

He wrote: “A giant banner from the Stanley Park stand carried a simple but moving message from Kenny Dalglish’s army: ‘The Kop Thanks You All. We Never Walked Alone.’

“And then chairmen John Smith and Philip Carter, followed by managers Dalglish and Colin Harvey, led their teams out onto the pitch. Goodison erupted.

“Within seconds, a hush fell across the stadium when Everton announced: ‘Your loss is ours too. We will observe a minute’s silence.”’

Of the match itself, Rogers wrote: “Liverpool and Everton paid their respects with pride, passion and total commitment. It was the ultimate tribute to the 95 fans who died so tragically at Hillsborough.

“The 140th League derby finished goalless, but it was a riveting, fiercely competitive affair that confirmed what we have known for years… that Merseyside is the undisputed soccer capital of Great Britain – always has been, always will be.”

12. ICONIC EIGHT-GOAL THRILLER IN FA CUP REPLAY

February 20, 1991: Everton 4 Liverpool 4

The magnitude of what’s at stake often ensures Merseyside Derbies become wars of attrition, but this wasn’t the case on a night that produced an eight-goal thriller with Everton equalising four times and Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish subsequently resigning. Neither side was able to deliver a knockout blow, but Ken Rogers of the ECHO compared the end-to-end goal glut to one of boxing’s greatest occasions.

He proclaimed: “I have often wondered what it must have been like to have been in the crowd the night Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier took each other to the brink of human endurance, exchanging punch for punch, blow for blow in the legendary Thriller in Manila. Now I know.

‘I was one of 38,000 mesmerised football fans who marvelled, gasped and marvelled again at a sporting spectacle of similar heavyweight proportions. Everton 4 Liverpool 4… it was one of those FA Cup occasions we will look back on in years to come and proudly declare: ‘I was there!”

Ric George described the goals. Of Liverpool’s 32nd minute opener, he said: “Kevin Ratcliffe was dispossessed by Ian Rush who sped goalwards, drew Neville Southall and shot towards an unguarded net. Andy Hinchcliffe’s clearance on the line was therefore miraculous but only temporary respite as Rush nodded on the loose ball for Peter Beardsley to rifle home.”

Everton drew level a minute into the second half as “Hinchcliffe curled in a delicious left-wing cross for Graeme Sharp to power a header which Bruce Grobbelaar could only push onto the inside of his post.” Liverpool restored their lead on 71 minutes when “Beardsley cracked a tremendous left-foot shot which flew past Southall.”

The Blues equalised again two minutes later “as the ever-hopeful Sharp cashed in on a misunderstanding between Steve Nicol and Grobbelaar to slide in.” The Reds went ahead for a third time on 77 minutes “when a short corner was worked to Jan Molby and he clipped over a cross which the inevitable Rush nodded in.”

Everton took the game into extra time though with a goal a minute from the end as substitute Tony Cottee – introduced just four minutes earlier – “pounced onto Stuart McCall’s neat pass to score clinically.” Liverpool went 4-3 up on 102 minutes as despite earlier Southall heroics, “not even the great Welshman could stop John Barnes scoring with a magnificent curling right-footer from the edge of the area.”

The hosts would hit back again though for a final time though as “Goodison erupted six minutes from the end when the alert Cottee shot between Grobbelaar’s legs after Glenn Hysen had let Molby’s back pass run on.”

13. BILLY KENNY RUNS THE SHOW FOR FIRST PREMIER LEAGUE DERBY SUCCESS

December 7, 1992: Everton 2 Liverpool 1

On the night, jubilant Evertonians were just delighted to toast Peter Beardsley downing his former club Liverpool in a comeback victory but in time they would come to have contrasting regrets over both him and the other hero of the hour, Billy Kenny. Despite both starring against the Reds, neither match-winner Beardsley nor man-of-the-match Kenny would kick a ball again for the Blues after the 1992/93 season had finished.

Ken Rogers wrote: “Liverpool were so confident their main sponsors Carlsberg took a tongue-in-cheek advert out in the ECHO which included a special form to mark down the goalscorers. The Blues had just one line, the Reds five.

“To adapt a famous advertising slogan, it was 'probably' the biggest own goal ever committed prior to one of these fiercely contested clashes.”

At first, proceedings appeared to be following the form book as Liverpool centre-half Mark Wright opened the scoring on 62 minutes “with a soaring header from a well-struck Mike Marsh corner.”

However, “the visitors were still celebrating when Maurice Johnston grabbed the equaliser, turning on a sixpence before curling a left foot shot into the far corner” of Mike Hooper’s goal.

The winner, a low drive from outside the area, came five minutes from the end with Rogers remarking: “Enter Beardsley to send home spirits soaring as high as the satellite that beamed the game live to the nation (Sky coverage was still a novelty in the Premier League’s debut season). Christmas had come early for everyone wearing blue.”

14. EVERTONIANS LOOK ON AS REDS TEAM-MATES COME TO BLOWS

September 18, 1993: Everton 2 Liverpool 0

When it comes to Merseyside Derby dust-ups Steve McManaman’s spat with Bruce Grobbelaar stands out as it was particularly entertaining for Evertonians given that it involved two Liverpool players fighting with each other as a result of a Blues goal. There have been many other memorable flashpoints in the heated fixture over the years, but they have all involved protagonists from opposing sides.

In 1999, on the night of what proved to be Everton’s last win at Anfield for over 21 years, there was the catchweight contest that saw both Reds goalkeeper Sander Westerveld and Blues striker Francis Jeffers sent off for trading blows. A similar scenario between David Unsworth and Robbie Fowler at Goodison Park in 1997 also saw the pair given their marching orders.

Other incidents of note include Mamadou Sakho squaring up to Romelu Lukaku at Goodison in 2015, with the resultant chest bumping producing yellow cards for both men, and a bizarre coming together of opposition captains Paul Ince and Duncan Ferguson at Anfield in 1998.

The self-styled ‘Guv’nor’ initiated contact with the Blues centre-forward but in the same movement was somehow thrown to the turf by the giant Scot. Jumping back up, for a moment it looked like Ince might try and give Ferguson something in return but then thought better of it, patted him on the back of the head and the game just carried on.

The handbags between Grobbelaar and McManaman was a ‘sit back and eat some popcorn’ moment for jubilant home fans though as their side triumphed with goals from Mark Ward (27) and Tony Cottee (85).

15. DOGS OF WAR UNLEASHED BY ROYLE APPOINTMENT

November 21, 1994: Everton 2 Liverpool 0

At the time of his appointment, Everton were rock bottom of the table and seemingly plummeting out of the Premier League without much of a fight, but this was the night that Joe Royle first unleashed what he came to call his ‘Dogs of War.’ With a third of the season already gone and the Blues in 22nd place, having lost eight out of 10 Premier League games between 24 August and 22 October (they were also dumped out of the League Cup by second tier Portsmouth), it was going to be a real dogfight just to stay up despite their last day escape against Wimbledon in the previous campaign.

David Prentice of the ECHO wrote: “Quite simply, Everton wanted the points far more than Liverpool – and once again it was visiting taunts of impending relegation which seemed to light the touchpaper. Chants of ‘Going down’ were followed almost instantly by a 56th minute header from Duncan Ferguson that set Goodison alight.”

Having broken his scoring duck, this was also the night that Ferguson began his love affair with the club. The Scot’s aerial threat also prompted Everton’s second goal a couple of minutes from the end.

Prentice said: “Ferguson challenged David James who, panic stricken, punched the ball against the Everton striker where it dropped into Paul Rideout’s path, and he slid the ball in from eight yards.”

16. CADAMARTERI'S TEENAGE KICKS LIFTS KENDALL'S STRUGGLERS

October 18, 1997: Everton 2 Liverpool 0

The 1997/98 season was arguably Everton’s grimmest of the early Premier League era but among all the Goodison Park gloom, teenager Danny Cadamarteri – for a fleeting spell at least – sparked some raw energy into what appeared to be a sinking side, and this was his finest hour.

Among this chaos, Everton somehow managed to pull off a memorable Merseyside Derby scalp, just three days after Kendall was involved in an on-field spat with some of his players after he’d asked them to warm-down following a 4-1 League Cup exit at Coventry City. David Prentice wrote in the ECHO: “A respectful handshake, offered before the final whistle, isn’t what you expect from a Merseyside Derby match.

“But Neil Ruddock’s magnanimous gesture to substituted Everton hero Danny Cadamarteri was in keeping with the rest of an astonishing afternoon. The wag who sent Tales of the Unexpected booming out of the Goodison public address system five minutes after the final whistle summed up the afternoon perfectly.

“Everton stepped out as the biggest underdogs since Joe Royle’s first match as manager. They ended it as top dogs in the city once again – after spectacularly rediscovering the passion and spirit which had been so missing in midweek. It was an amazing transformation.”

The Blues got the break they needed when they went ahead on the stroke of half-time as “David James fisted the ball against a startled Ruddock and in for an own goal.”

However, it was the youthful vigour of Cadamarteri that sealed the win 15 minutes from the end.

Prentice said: “He smuggled the ball away from Bjorn Tore Kvarme, charged purposefully forward before cutting inside Ruddock, ignoring the better placed Duncan Ferguson and crashed a right-footed shot into the net.”

17. CARSLEY PILE-ON AS BLUES MOVE TOWARDS BEST PREMIER LEAGUE FINISH

December 11, 2004: Everton 1 Liverpool 0

The enduring image of Everton’s victory in the 200th Merseyside Derby is the one of their players piled on top of each other celebrating Lee Carsley’s match-winner, but the hero of the hour was nowhere to be seen. Manager David Moyes was so delighted by the photograph – which symbolised his first ever success against the Blues’ neighbours – that he ordered a framed copy for every member of his squad.

However, recalling the match several years later, Carsley told The Independent: ‘I find it ironic, because I’m still asked to sign that picture of my goal celebrations and I’m the only Everton player not on it.

“That was a great day, people still talk to me about it, but after the goal I fell to the floor, everyone jumped on me and then Tim Cahill piled on top. He is the only one looking into the camera and he’s probably signed as many copies of that photograph as I have.”

In a way though, the picture sums up hard grafter Carsley’s understated but integral contribution to the Everton cause even if he wasn’t necessarily the player who immediately caught your eye with his winner against Liverpool one of just 13 goals in 198 appearances for the club (averaging less than two per season). The fruitful 2004/05 season, in which Everton shocked the football world, going from 17th on 39 points the previous campaign to finishing fourth with their highest Premier League placing to date, was by far Carsley’s most prolific on Merseyside as he found the net on five occasions.

David Prentice wrote in the ECHO: “Lee Carsley placed an effective restraining order on Steven Gerrard, but elsewhere Everton tried to be as expressive as a team can be under the constricting restraints of a derby match.”

The goal came in the 68th minute and Prentice remarked: ‘Carsley was a popular goalscorer. After he picked up a loose clearance and curled in a 20-yard drive with the inside of his right-foot, he was promptly submerged beneath a battery of ecstatic team-mates.”

18. ANDREW JOHNSON GESTURES BIG WIN

September 9, 2006: Everton 3 Liverpool 0

Jubilant Evertonians hardly needed a reminder of the score but in case any of them were still rubbing their eyes in disbelief, Andrew Johnson’s celebratory hand gestures showed them anyway, it was 3-0 against Liverpool. This was the Blues’ biggest victory over their neighbours since they’d triumphed 4-0 across Stanley Park at Anfield back on September 19, 1964, almost 42 years earlier which made it the most-emphatic Merseyside Derby success for Everton in living memory for many inside Goodison, including home manager David Moyes who was just a one-year-old when goals from Colin Harvey, Johnny Morrissey, Fred Pickering and Derek Temple sealed a pounding for the Reds on their own turf.

Dominic King wrote in the ECHO: “Andrew Johnson did not need a second invitation to wreak havoc. How he took it.

“Petrified his pace would cause problems, Liverpool simply did not know how to handle Everton’s record signing and made a string of errors for which they were ruthlessly punished. Playing a key role in the move that led to Tim Cahill (a right-foot finish from seven yards out) grabbing the first goal in front of a baying Gwladys Street on 23 minutes, Johnson enjoyed the kind of derby debut that usually appears in the pages of Roy of the Rovers.

“Two chances came his way (his first goal on 36 minutes a cool finish after shrugging off Jamie Carragher’s wild challenge) and both were gleefully gobbled up, the second particularly sweet after Jose Manuel Reina – did the crestfallen goalkeeper earn his second name after the ham-fisted waiter in Fawlty Towers? – comically blundered in front of the Park End (Johnson headed over the goal-line deep into stoppage time after the Spaniard had made a hash of dealing with Lee Carsley’s long-range strike).

“Goodison most definitely has its new hero.”

19. THE GREATEST DERBY WINNER MANY NEVER SAW

February 4, 2009: Everton 1 Liverpool 0

Everton youngster Dan Gosling’s dramatic extra time goal that knocked Liverpool out of the FA Cup was the greatest Merseyside Derby winner than many armchair fans never saw. After almost two hours of pulsating but goalless action at Goodison Park and the prospect of a first-ever penalty shoot-out between the local rivals looming, ITV accidentally cut away from the game to an advertisement break.
Anchorman Steve Rider apologised, saying: “Well, it was a dream strike from Gosling and Liverpool’s goose was cooked, and technically I’m afraid it came at a pretty bad time for us as well. If you missed the goal our apologies for the technical problems we had at that time.”

Dominic King of the ECHO said: “Apart from a big engine, Gosling also has his share of skill and the composure he showed to take a cross down under pressure before dispatching a shot past Pepe Reina – Liverpool’s star man alongside Jamie Carragher – had the hallmark of quality.

“And what of the man who served up the chance? There is no logical reason why van der Meyde has such a following on the terraces, given some of his escapades in recent years, but finally he has provided a moment of sheer delight.”

20. NOT JUST A WIN, AN EXORCISM

April 24, 2024: Everton 2 Liverpool 0

Last season was the most-testing campaign beleaguered Blues had ever known as Everton were handed two separate points deductions, but they overcame those setbacks to ensure their final year at Goodison Park would be in the Premier League with a first Merseyside Derby win on home turf since 2010 pushing them towards survival as part of a hat-trick of successes in an incredible week.

Centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite, who was the team’s breakthrough star of the season having returned from a loan spell at PSV Eindhoven looking like a potentially generational talent, broke the deadlock on 27 minutes after some penalty box pinball as he stretched out one of the long legs in his 6ft 5in frame to hit a left foot shot that was too hot for Alisson to handle as it squirmed through the Brazil international’s hands and into the net. Centre-forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who had seen Sean Dyche’s methods cure the injury issues that had restricted him to just 18 games in both of the previous seasons after what the Yorkshireman called ‘a factory reset’ went on to play 39 times in 2023/24 but despite having become just the fourth player to break the 50-goal barrier for the club in the Premier League earlier in the campaign, he then endured a 23-match scoring drought.

Nevertheless, he sealed this win with a classic Everton number nine’s header in front of the Gwladys Street as he nodded home Dwight McNeil’s right wing corner kick at the back post on 58 minutes.

Joe Thomas of the ECHO said: “After so many years, so many disappointments in this fixture, and so much heartbreak and heartache, it was an emotional one. This is a club and a fanbase that has suffered their lowest as their biggest foes have ridden the crest of a silverware-laden wave.

‘All those taunts, all those jibes, all that devastation – all now a thing of the past. The underdogs bit back, roared on by a crowd that has deserved far more nights like this in recent years.

“‘You lost the league at Goodison Park,’ was the cry that rang out as this game entered stoppage time (departing Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, previously unbeaten against Everton in front of fans, went into the match with only goal difference keeping his side off the top of the table).

“This was not just a win, it was an exorcism. It was the night a tormented fanbase banished some of its most spiteful ghosts.”