Ahead of Everton's final game of the season, we look back at a classic away match against Tottenham Hotspur
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David Moyes oversaw an Everton win at Tottenham in 2008
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“Feed the Yak and he will score,” was the chant being heartily belted out by Evertonians when the former Nigeria international crossed Regent Road to enter Hill Dickinson Stadium ahead of the 3-0 home win in March.
Almost two decades on from when he first joined the Blues, Ayegbeni Yakubu remains a fan favourite. It’s not hard to see why because wherever he went throughout his career, he was all about goals.
All football fans love a prolific marksman, but supporters of Everton have become particularly attached to their centre-forward heroes over the years. Indeed, only Tottenham Hotspur (13) can top the Blues’ record of having the top flight’s leading scorer on a dozen occasions.
Unlike some of Goodison Park’s iconic centre-forwards of the past like Dixie Dean, Tommy Lawton, Dave Hickson, Bob Latchford, Graeme Sharp or Duncan Ferguson, Yakubu didn’t necessarily use his muscular frame to act as a target man, he was more a pure finisher. In that respect, he was more like Everton’s most recent Golden Boot winner, Gary Lineker, who plundered 30 First Division goals in 1985/86 and 40 in all competitions in his solitary campaign on Merseyside, before joining Barcelona.
Indeed, with manager David Moyes having broken the Blues’ transfer record on a striker for the third straight year to bring him in, after splashing out £6million on Southampton’s James Beattie in 2005 and £8.6million on Crystal Palace’s Andrew Johnson in 2006, Yakubu, an £11.25million buy from Middlesbrough would shun the number nine jersey for 22, claiming that was his target for the season. Ultimately, he finished one shy of that on 21 but nevertheless became the first Everton player since Peter Beardsley in 1991/92 to break the 20-goal barrier.
With hat-tricks at home to Fulham and Norwegians SK Brann in the UEFA Cup plus braces in the 7-1 rout against Sunderland plus 3-1 wins over another former club Portsmouth and then Newcastle United on the final day, it looked like the Glaswegian gaffer had finally found the goal machine to base his team around. But while Yakubu wasn’t quite the ‘one season wonder’ in the mould of Lineker who departed after leading the scoring charts at the World Cup in Mexico with England, he was never quite the same player after rupturing his Achilles tendon in Everton’s 1-0 victory at Tottenham Hotspur on November 30, 2008, a sickening blow that prevented him from starting another competitive match for almost 10 months.
While Spurs away had seldom been a happy hunting ground – prior to 2006, the Blues hadn’t picked up three points at White Hart Lane since the aforementioned Lineker broke his duck for them on August 26, 1985 and following the Yakubu injury-marred success, they have yet to triumph again in front of fans – but for three straight seasons under Moyes, the disappointments were punctuated and this result, secured by Steven Pienaar’s first goal of the campaign on 51 minutes, completed a hat-trick of consecutive wins.
The sequence began with a 3-0 victory on August 26, 2006 – 21 years to the day after Lineker had struck the winner – as a Calum Davenport own goal on 53 minutes and Andrew Johnson strike on 66 minutes delivered victory for Moyes’ men. Then, in another early triumph on August 14, 2007, Joleon Lescott put the visitors ahead with a third minute header and despite Anthony Gardner nodding the hosts level on 26 minutes, further Everton goals from Leon Osman (37) and a direct free-kick from Alan Stubbs on the stroke of half-time wrapped up a 3-1 success.
This fixture marked a landmark day for Moyes as Dominic King wrote in the ECHO: “What a way to mark the occasion. While the prophets of doom predicted a day of pain at ‘The Lane’, David Moyes’ 300th game as Everton manager was one of capital gain.
“Six days after being showered by brickbats following a limp, abject display at Wigan Athletic, Moyes finds himself being deluged with bouquets after a galvanising performance at Tottenham that was his side’s finest of this rollercoaster season to date. Joining Goodison giants Harry Catterick and Howard Kendall in the ‘300 club’ is something Moyes has reason to feel proud about, but it’s safe to say that taking three points at White Hart Lane will mean that little bit more today.
“Had The Blues followed up their woeful efforts against Wigan with another abomination here, the patience of some supporters, who have grown increasingly exasperated by events on the pitch so far, may have been stretched to breaking point. Football’s fickle nature, however, means that the love affair is back on again, those who made the trip to London singing Moyes’ name non-stop after witnessing a third straight victory at a ground that used to be Everton’s equivalent of kryptonite.
“And – pun entirely intended – how Everton earned their spurs. Comfortably holding the home side at bay, Steven Pienaar’s deflected shot early in the second half did not do justice to how in control of matters they were.”
Ayegbeni Yakubu, David Moyes, Tim Cahill and Alan Irvine following Everton's 3-0 win over Chelsea at Hill Dickinson Stadium
Ayegbeni Yakubu, David Moyes, Tim Cahill and Alan Irvine following Everton's 3-0 win over Chelsea at Hill Dickinson Stadium
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However, despite the joy of the Blues doing the business as their gaffer reached a special milestone, it was up to match-winner Pienaar to dedicate his goal to his stricken fellow African team-mate who now began his long road back to fitness. The midfielder, who would end up joining Tottenham in January 2011 before returning to Goodison a year later, said: “It’s a huge blow to lose Yak and we are all so sorry for him.
“We know the quality he has got and the type of person he is. His presence alone in the team gives the players a boost, so it is really unfortunate for him to pick up an injury like this when we are not even halfway through the season. “I spoke to Yak at half-time and he was really down. Maybe the win and the goal will have given him a little bit of lift, we hope he is better again quickly.”
Unfortunately, while Yakubu would recover to play another 51 matches for Everton, there would be just seven more goals. After a loan spell in the Championship at Leicester City in the second half of 2010/11, he would join Blackburn Rovers for an undisclosed fee that summer, interspersing spells in China, Qatar and Turkey with disappointing stints back in England with Reading and Coventry City before hanging up his boots.