Boro have not been setting the heather on fire this season so really these are the games that the club should be winning but on Sunday this was not the case.
On the day before I had a wee visit from my pals from Merseyside Andrew and the two Tommy's and we were trying to figure out what would be the best Everton side with the players that we have available or that Moysie has available. We decided (or Tommy did!) what Everton's best 11 would be. We decided that young James McFadden should be given his chance in the first team but we could not decide on the best partnership up front for young James to provide the ammo for. We came to the conclusion that if big Dunc was fit that he and Wayne could be the best selection,with Tommy Radzinski either playing just behind them.
On his day and when fit,big Dunc could prove a point to everyone at Goodison Park and this season just maybe we will have a squad of players who, when fit, will know that they will have to fight to keep their place in the Everton team and this can only be good for all concerned.
This brings me on to the match with Stockport in the Carling Cup,a match that I would Have attended with my pals had I not been working in Dundee and incidently, does anyone remember a young Greek lad who had a trial period with Everton in their three match tour Of Scotland called Keonstantinos Loumpoutis? He came on as a sub for Perugia in their 2-1 win over Dundee in the first round of the UEFA Cup.
I was being constantly updated by Andrew on how Everton were doing and I was thrilled to Hear that both Dunc and James were playing and when I heard that young McFadden had a dream debut I was really pleased.
I know that people will say that it was only Stockport but this Cup has a habit of being unkind to Everton and big clubs in general, just ask Birmingham and Fulham.
This hurdle could have been difficult in the end it wasn't but we should take the positives From it. We won, we are through, Dunc scored again, Chads scored, and James had a great full debut. We must take this on now to Sunday's crunch match with Leeds at Goodison, this is the kind of match that we should be winning and lets hope we do! We welcome back on of our old favourites, Peter Reid lets hope that he still needs cheering up after Sunday.