By Rhys Lewis
October 30 2005

Everton won for the first time in the league since August with a battling 1-0 win at St. Andrews against Birmingham City to move off the bottom of the Premiership. The win came as the result of a Simon Davies strike in the 43rd minute. It was a fully deserved win with Everton having the clearer chances of the two sides and didnt look in that much trouble even in the closing stages.

It was a tight first half with both sides looking nervous and not wanting to make any mistakes but it was Evertons class that told. Birmingham had the first effort with a Jermaine Pennant free kick but it was a comfortable save by Martyn. The Everton defence coped well with the threat of Heskey and Forssel and started to build on the solid start. Tim Cahill came close to opening his Premiership account for the season after a stooping header from a fantastic Tony Hibbert cross, which produced a fine save fro Maik Taylor. Everton then came close again after some fine inter-play between Cahill and the impressive debutant Andy van der Meyde, Cahill then crossed for James Beattie to see his towering header go narrowly over.

But Everton didnt have to wait long for their first goal in open play since August. It came from good pressure on the Birmingham midfield, forcing them to give the ball away before Phil Neville played the ball to van der Meyde to show the magic that Evertonians have been waiting for. Van der Meyde showed great pace to go past Kilkenny with absolute ease before playing a simple ball to Simon Davies who saw his shot from 30 yards hit the back of the net after Maik Taylor failed to deal with the shot. The goal came in the 43rd minute and it was a nice change scoring a goal so close to half time instead of letting one in!

In the 2nd half came the expected onslaught but the Everton defence coped with relative ease and instead of Martyn making save after save it was actually Taylor that was the busier keeper. First of all he made a reaction save from the hard working James Beattie and then he made a smart stop from a Duncan Ferguson header after a defensive error. The only time that Birmingham came close to scoring was from a Kilkenny free kick which Martyn got a vital touch to tip it onto to the post. After that Everton didnt look in any danger and while it didnt feel like it at the time, it was a comfortable finish.

It was a passionate display mixed with some good football, a big improvement from previous away games. Beattie and Ferguson looked menacing up front, van der Meyde showed the type of skill that made him one of the best in Europe a couple of seasons ago, Davies showed why Moyes put him as one of his main transfer targets, Cahill looked more like the Tim Cahill we love, and Yobo again outlined his potential to be one of the top defenders in the world. The celebrations at the end were moments to savour. It was relief and joy all round, the played looked absolutly delighted and came and threw their shirts into the crowd. It was to say thank you for the loyal support they have recieved throughout this tough time, not once has the support dwindled and now the players, manager and fans alike hope this result is the result that really does get our season going.