Everton travelled to Wrexham in the second round of the League Cup on 1 October 2002 and won the game 3-0.
Kevin Campbell had already put the Blues ahead in the 25th minute, but the night is remembered now for what a 16-year-old substitute did in the final half hour.
Rooney needed barely 27 minutes on the pitch to score twice and break a record that had stood since 1937. At 16 years and 342 days old, he became Everton’s youngest-ever goalscorer, beating Tommy Lawton’s old mark.
The record did not last long. James Vaughan broke it again in April 2005, aged 16 years and 270 days, against Crystal Palace.
How Wayne Rooney shattered Tommy Lawton’s 65-year Everton record
David Moyes turned to Rooney from the bench with Everton already in firm control of the game. The teenager replaced Tomasz Radzinski in the 63rd minute and needed only 20 minutes to make his mark. That cameo is where the story of Wayne Rooney’s first Everton goals truly begins.
Writing for the Liverpool ECHO, David Prentice’s match report captured the moment that led to the first goal.
The moment Evertonians had waited all season for arrived eight minutes from time. Richard Wright’s huge clearance flicked off a combination of substitute Duncan Ferguson and defender Brian Carey.
That allowed Rooney to show all his pace and aggression to charge beyond the covering defender, compose himself and beat goalkeeper Paul Whitfield with a firm right-footed finish.
A pitch invasion then held up proceedings, with several of the invading Wrexham supporters stopping to direct their attention towards the young goalscorer. Once play resumed, Rooney wasted little time adding a second.
Prentice described the teenager charging onto Lee Carsley’s pass, beating Carey and drawing Whitfield before finding the far corner.
The achievement carried historical significance. Tommy Lawton had been Everton’s youngest goalscorer since finding the net aged 17 years and 130 days in 1937, but Rooney had now broken a club record that had survived for 65 years.
Prentice placed the achievement in the context of another era.
Footballers were still wearing centre-parts and Brylcreem when Tommy Lawton scored on his debut for Everton, aged just 17 years 130 days. Wayne Rooney blitzed that club record at Wrexham last night, scoring before he has even celebrated his 17th birthday.
Rooney barely needed any of the match to leave his mark. As Prentice put it at the time, he could have scored even more.
He then added another for good measure, might even have snatched a hat-trick – and was only on the pitch for the final 27 minutes.
Dissecting the Wrexham cameo and David Moyes’ management
Even before kick-off, Moyes had tried to play down the hype building around his young forward. Prentice’s report noted the manager’s efforts, and how quickly the match threatened to overturn them.
David Moyes has earnestly attempted to diffuse the growing weight of expectation surrounding the prodigiously talented teenager. But after last night’s record-breaking deeds he may need to treble his efforts.
Rooney’s influence on the match went beyond his two goals. Prentice recorded other moments when he nearly completed a hat-trick, with the youngster looking even more dangerous once the pressure of scoring his first senior goal had disappeared.
He sent a flying header wide before working his way past two defenders and producing another shot which Whitfield saved to deny him the match ball.
The same Wrexham tie carried a quieter footnote. Chinese international Li Weifeng made his second and final appearance for Everton that night, a reminder that cup games like this one can mark an ending just as easily as a beginning.
Wrexham manager Denis Smith could only joke about his side’s part in Rooney’s breakthrough afterwards. He said simply: “My missus would have put them away.”
Where Wayne Rooney’s historic breakthrough ranks in Everton lore
Rooney’s name did not become a national talking point until 18 days later, when Clive Tyldesley’s famous “Remember the name” commentary accompanied his stunning winner against Arsenal.
That goal, scored five days before Rooney’s 17th birthday, made him the youngest goalscorer in Premier League history at 16 years and 360 days. Most football fans understandably think of that moment first.
Evertonians, though, had already seen the raw talent produce something historic against Wrexham. The League Cup night at the Racecourse Ground was where Rooney scored his first senior goals and became the youngest goalscorer in Everton’s history.
The club record itself proved short-lived. James Vaughan broke it within three years, scoring aged 16 years and 270 days against Crystal Palace in April 2005. That said more about the young talent Everton kept producing in that era than it did about the scale of Rooney’s achievement.
Rooney’s time at Everton did not stay simple. Supporters who followed his two spells at the club know there were difficult moments too, including his second exit from Everton. Even so, his name still carries weight around the club.
Jordan Pickford has spoken openly in his interview with Rooney about what the striker meant to him growing up, while James Garner has also received praise from Rooney in recent years. The connection between Rooney and the club has never fully faded.
More than two decades on, that night against Wrexham stands as one of the clearest examples of a teenager announcing himself at Everton. Lawton’s record had lasted 65 years before Rooney beat it.
Two goals in 27 minutes from the bench still reads like the opening chapter of a career that would go on to define a generation.
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