| Goals | Goals |
|---|---|
| 4. Darron Gibson (60’) |
Gibson hands Everton win
Darren Gibson provided his best contribution of the season for Manchester United when the former Red Devil handed Everton the win over Manchester City with the game's solitary goal in a Barclays Premiership match at Goodison Park on Tuesday night.
The first 45 minutes was an enticing game of high-paced football, the only thing lacking was a goal, but still the fans packed inside Goodison park were highly entertained. The fans even saw one of their own handcuff himself to the City goalpost fine minutes before the break in some kind of protest.
The start of the match certainly saw the league leaders controlling the possession stakes and dominating the flow of the game. Nonetheless, Roberto Mancini's side were unable to create any decent chances on goal in the opening 20 minutes.
Instead, it was Everton who came within inches of scoring in the fifth minute when Denis Stracqualursi got onto the end of a corner-kick, but he saw his header from only four-yards out cleared off the goal line by Joleon Lescott.
City, in the meantime, looked to be growing seemingly frustrated as they squandered good goal scoring positions with their final touches.
Consequently they resulted to shooting from long range with Sergio Aguero coming close when his 20-yard grass-cutter just missed the target in the 23rd minute.
In the 36th minute Samir Nasri nearly broke the deadlock with a 30-yard pile driver which struck the underside of the crossbar and bounced back into play. Aguero was quick to follow-up on the rebound but he saw his effort superbly saved by Tim Howard from only a couple yards out.
The game was then rudely interrupted when a fan stormed the field five minutes from the break and handcuffed himself to the City goalpost. A sight the Merseyside officers would rarely of seen, but they dealt with the situation swiftly and the game quickly resumed with no further action going into the break.
The second half began in the same fashion as the first half - City on the attack and dictating terms on the field of play.
But much like the first half the visitors couldn't fashion a decent chance on goal and they were punished for their inadequacies in front of goal when the Toffees took the lead against the run of play in the 60th minute.
The man to score the goal for Everton was one of their new signings in the January transfer window and former Manchester United player Darren Gibson.
The goal came about after Leighton Baines whipped in a cross from the left that was headed clear by the City defence to Landon Donovan on the edge of the 18-yard box, he proceeded to lay off the ball to Gibson who fired the ball into the top right hand corner from 16-yards out to give Everton the lead, 1-0.
Thereafter, City continued to attack and threw numbers forward in search of the equaliser, but David Moyes' men were resolute in defence and managed to hold on for a much needed win.
For City, it was Mancini's sides third league defeat of the season and with Manchester United's win over Stoke (also on Tuesday night) they now see themselves level on top of the Barclays Premiership with their cross town rivals.
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