Toffees’ victory so sweet

Everton 1 Man Utd 0

Everton outfought the Old Trafford men from start to finish and managed a league victory over their illustrious opponents for the first time in 10 years.

It was Duncan Ferguson who got the winner a decade ago and the giant Scot scored the decider again, early in the second half to send the home supporters crazy.

From then on, it was United who lost their heads. They had two England internationals sent off as frustration boiled over.

First, Gary Neville was dismissed for kicking the ball into the crowd and then, in stoppage time, Paul Scholes got his marching orders for kicking out at Kevin Kilbane.

And, when the dust had settled,

Everton were still entrenched in fourth spot regardless of Liverpool’s win at Portsmouth that put them back in fifth but still three points behind their local rivals.

The Toffees were without skipper Alan Stubbs and full-back Alessandro Pistone, both injured, which meant that Steve Watson and Joseph Yobo played in defence.

United made one change from the side that reached the FA Cup final with Sunday’s demolition of Newcastle, Quinton Fortune dropping to the bench with Darren Fletcher in the starting line-up.

Everton were out of the traps like men possessed, flying into tackles and hurling in the high balls, and Rooney managed to pick up a bloody nose when the ball hit him in the face following a Tony Hibbert clearance.

But running from deep, Rooney was a constant danger. On seven

minutes he collected the ball 30 yards out and unleashed an instant drive that Nigel Martyn could only beat away at full stretch.

In all this physical stuff, it was little Mikel Arteta who finally found himself booked following a succession of infringements, handball being the one that saw referee Phil Dowd lose patience. The official soon had Scholes’ name in the book too, for a foul on the Basque midfielder.

Everton continued to unnerve United and, when Lee Carsley pumped in the free-kick, Tim Howard was all at sea. Roy Keane headed away and Tim Cahill saw a hooked effort turned off the line by Wes Brown.

Everton were direct, determined and hounded United out of their usual composed style. Only Rooney looked up for it and he cut inside Carsley to send a curling effort wide of the post.

United almost scored soon after the break with their best move of the match, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Rooney combining to send Scholes clear in the box but Martyn was off his line in a flash to block the close-range effort.

Ferguson, who had just clattered Howard, launched himself at Fletcher and was booked. The full-frontal assault on United continued, no one was allowed a second to breath let alone lift their head to make a pass and Ferguson and Bent were working their socks off shutting down defenders.

And, when Ronaldo gave away a free-kick way out on the right on 55 minutes, Everton got the chance to go ahead. Arteta’s free-kick swung into the box and Ferguson got away from Ferdinand to send a fierce, low header past Howard.

The man looking to enlarge his already substantial salary from United got nowhere near the former Scotland striker and was hating every moment of the confrontation.

Rooney was lucky not to be cautioned for flattening Watson as United tried to respond.

Ronaldo and Scholes both blazed decent chances over but United were generally unable to break out of the stranglehold Everton had them in.

United finished with nine men when Scholes was sent off in injury time for a wild kick at Kevin Kilbane, having already been booked.

EVERTON: Martyn, Hibbert, Yobo, Weir, Watson, Carsley, Bent (Osman 76), Arteta, Cahill (McFadden 86), Kilbane, Ferguson (Beattie 80).

MAN UTD: Howard, Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Brown (Silvestre 72), Heinze, Fletcher (O’Shea 76), Keane, Scholes, Ronaldo, Rooney, van Nistelrooy.

Referee: P Dowd (Staffordshire).