Dour Leeds go down to Watson hat-trick

Everton 4 Leeds 0

Steve Watson scored a stunning hat-trick as Everton crushed a shambolic Leeds.

The Yorkshire club’s problems are mounting, as are those of Brazilian World Cup winner Roque Junior.

The defender is on loan from AC Milan and he must surely wish he had never set eyes on the Barclaycard Premiership.

He was on the receiving end of a 4-0 hammering on his debut against Leicester, sent off against Birmingham and now humiliated on a sunny afternoon on Merseyside.

Leeds fans must be wondering whether this is the real Roque Junior or some long lost cousin.

His misery actually overshadowed the outstanding performance of Watson – who scored his first treble for the club – and an equally impressive full debut for Scottish youngster James McFadden.

Everton even rested Wayne Rooney but still had the firepower to batter poor Leeds.

Duncan Ferguson came in for his first league start of the season, and McFadden made the most of his first full Premiership match with a display of wing play which would have impressed Ryan Giggs.

Leeds had captain Dominic Matteo back. But their defence was a shambles, as Roque Junior was again subjected to a terrifying examination.

Ferguson was clearly involved to test the frailty of Leeds in the air, particularly after the aerial hounding Leicester gave the Brazilian a couple of weeks back.

The chances flowed from all angles as Everton powered forward.

Gravesen saw a shot flash across goal; then Tomasz Radzinski had a header ruled out for offside before Ferguson’s touch on a Watson cross went inches wide of a post.

Roque Junior’s initial introduction to Ferguson resulted in the big Scot dragging the Brazilian’s shirt virtually off his back at a corner.

The loan signing completed the job and and waved it angrily at referee Paul Durkin, who issued the Scot with a severe warning.

But the standard had been set, and the defender suffered continued humiliations from then on.

McFadden, who had produced an outstanding display against Stockport in the Carling Cup, maintained that standard when he went past three men in the box before angling a shot past a post.

Leeds held out until the 26th minute.

But then Radzinski harassed Roque Junior into a dreadful error as he tried to hook clear, and the ball dropped for Watson to play a clever one-two with Ferguson before lashing the ball into the roof of the net with his right foot.

Everton gave Leeds a real roasting, first to everything and flowing forward with pace and drive.

Ferguson almost scored when he turned on to a Tony Hibbert cross and fired fractionally wide.

Then on 34 minutes Hibbert and Watson combined down the right to set up Radzinski for an angled shot which cannoned behind off a post.

But Leeds were not to survive much longer.

On 37 minutes McFadden’s long ball put Radzinski away again. Paul Robinson raced from his area kick clear – but only as far as Watson who superbly lobbed home into an empty net from 35 yards.

Two minutes later it was three.

Hibbert’s right-wing cross was met by an unmarked Ferguson, who headed home from six yards.

Roque Junior and his central defensive partner Zoumana Camara were again nowhere to be seen.

Leeds boss Peter Reid, a tough-tackling former Everton hero, must have squirmed just watching the mess.

His half-time reaction was to haul off Seth Johnson, Jermaine Pennant and Lamine Sakho – replacing them with Michael Bridges, Salomen Olembe and Aaron Lennon.

But Everton almost scored from the re-start, Watson battling to retain possession in the box before forcing Robinson into a point-blank save.

Watson was then inches wide with a drive after Radzinski had got away down the right.

But his hat-trick was not long delayed and came in the 52nd minute.

First there was McFadden’s jinking run, then David Unsworth’s cross which flicked off Roque Junior’s head – and finally Watson beyond the far post to chest down and lob cleverly over Robinson and into the far corner.

On 54 minutes Everton goalkeeper Nigel Martyn, a long-term Leeds substitute last season, was finally called into action to block a Mark Viduka drive.

Roque Junior just looked like he wanted to get off the pitch by now – but he could not do so before McFadden decided to torment him with a couple of runs into the box.

Watson was taken off near the end – to a standing ovation – and replaced by Rooney, who managed to miss when clean through in injury time.

Watson was straight on to the pitch at the end to grab the match ball from referee Durkin. The Geordie could well have then shown it to Roque Junior - because that was as near as the Brazilian had got to the thing all game.