By Chris Kirwan
July 27 2003

While the midweek defeat to Crewe was clearly irrelevant, after this afternoon’s victory over Rangers at Ibrox I think that we can safely assume that the Blues are set to challenge for the Champions League spots, while Rangers will slip back behind Celtic…..

I didn’t make the journey up to Glasgow, and an afternoon waiting while the www.evertonfc.com commentary was “rebuffering” wasn’t high on my list of things to do, so my knowledge of the game is taken from other sources.

The main talking point from the game is an injury picked up by Wayne Rooney. Rooney was carried off after a clash with Bob Malcolm. He has returned to Liverpool for a scan, and Moyes declared that they are unsure how serious it is.

Boyhood Evertonians were crucial to the outcome of the game, with Michael Ball and Alan Stubbs having differing fortunes. Michael Ball gave away the penalty from which David Unsworth equalised, and then deflected a last minute Alan Stubbs freekick past Stefan Klos.

Rangers had taken the lead through Steven Thompson before Unsworth’s penalty. Then Li Tie did his efforts to persuade Moyes to dig deep to secure a permanent transfer no harm when he gave the Blues the lead with a long range effort that was finished off with “the finesse of a seasoned goal-getter” according to the official site.

The managers were both pleased with the game, and probably referred to it being ‘a good workout’. McLeish reflected: "It was a spirited performance with the players we had missing. Sometimes you think, 'Is this going to be too much for the lads who come in? But I thought they showed up very well.”

While Moyes stated: “That’s the way I want Everton to play in every game. I want to play at a high tempo and I want to entertain the supporters. I thought we were good value today and I have to say I thought Rangers were too.”

For a full report see 'When Skies are Grey'...”rangers 2 efc 3”

The reserves drew 1-1 at Leigh RMI, with the goal coming from Leon Osman. Other notable players were Nick Chadwick, Kevin McLeod and Andy Burnham, a Leigh MP.