Everton demolish Norwegian side

Everton 6 Brann 1 (Everton win 8-1 on aggregate)

Everton cruised into the last 16 of the UEFA Cup with striker Ayegbeni Yakubu writing his name in the club’s history books alongside Andy Gray and Alan Ball.

The Nigerian bagged a second hat-trick since joining the club – the first came against Fulham in the Barclays Premier League – to become only the third Everton player to hit a treble in Europe.

Gray managed the feat in 1985, 15 years after Ball, putting Yakubu in illustrious company as he took his tally of goals with Everton to 15 since his £11.25million move from Middlesbrough.

Having been fined and dropped by boss David Moyes for returning late from the African Nations Cup, Yakubu has clearly repaid his debt to the club.

The Toffees will now face Fiorentina in the next round, the Italians beating Rosenborg 3-1 on aggregate in their tie.

Andrew Johnson scored twice and Mikel Arteta was also on target to complete the club’s biggest score in a European match.

Everton were boosted by the return from a groin injury of playmaker Arteta, while Moyes also recalled another of the Toffees’ adventurous midfielders - Steven Pienaar – for his first appearance since returning from the African Nations Cup.

Manuel Fernandes, Leon Osman and Joseph Yobo were all rested from the side that won 2-0 in the first-leg in Norway last week.

Brann made one change from that match, including newly signed striker Njogu Demba-Nyren in place of former Portsmouth forward Azar Karadas, who was on the bench.

Moyes made the right noises beforehand about taking this second leg seriously and not taking chances, but certainly in the opening spell his words did not appear to have registered with his team.

Initially Everton’s defending was sloppy, their passing poor, and it gave Brann the incentive to go forward – encouraging their 2,000 noisy fans.

Demba-Nyren almost broke through in the seventh minute, with Lee Carsley’s debatable challenge infuriating coach Mons Ivar Mjelde on the line.

Then Erlend Hanstveit forced Tim Howard into a save at the foot of his post as the hosts struggled early on.

With Brann captain Eirik Bakke, once of Leeds, chasing around midfield, the visitors were clearly not going down without a fight.

Everton needed something to take the steam out of Bergen, but when their best early chance arrived Johnson was not quick enough to react in the box to a neat build-up between Phil Neville and Yakubu, and the chance was lost.

Bakke was booked for bringing down Pienaar, as the Norwegians generally hounded Everton out of any sort of rhythm.

And they almost scored when Petter Vaagan Moen’s free-kick reached Thorstein Helstad on the near post, and his stabbed shot produced an instinctive save from Howard on his near post.

But Yakubu settled Everton’s nerves 60 seconds later when he curled home from 15 yards after Tim Cahill had created the chance.

Four minutes from the break the tie was all over when Johnson took a pass from Arteta, turned away from Hanstveit and drilled a low shot inside the far post.

Everton replaced Cahill and Carsley with Fernandes and Tony Hibbert at the break, and seconds after the restart Neville’s ball sent Johnson through to hit the post.

It was 3-0 in the 54th minute when Pienaar found Yakubu, whose sidestep wrong-footed two defenders and enabled him to place a 12-yard effort inside Hakon Opdal’s left-hand post.

Brann deserved something for their efforts, and it came on the hour when Moen sent in a low free-kick from 25 yards that Phil Jagielka could have cleared - but he allowed the ball past him and Howard reacted too late to stop it going in.

But Everton kept coming forward and they grabbed their fourth goal in the 71st minute when Arteta’s 20-yarder clipped Karadas, wrong-footed Opdal and went in off a post.

A minute later Yakubu completed his hat-trick when Pienaar’s cross found him on the far post for an easy tap-in – and before the restart he was replaced by Victor Anichebe.

And Johnson completed the scoring in injury-time when he crashed home his second goal from 25 yards.