Source: Telegraph
Everton 2 Burnley 0: match report
It is the season for the feelgood factor, for heart-warming stories of struggle and strife transformed into success.[LNB]Everton endured plenty of the former for 82 minutes here, before a forgotten boy wonder took on the role of hero. Happy Christmas, James Vaughan. [LNB] Related ArticlesPremier League actionPremier League tableTelegraph player raterPremier League fixturesTransfer TalkSport on televisionThe player cast as Wayne Rooney's heir apparent when he first broke through at Goodison Park as a teenager has suffered more injuries in his truncated career than most, and his 2009 has been typically miserable, punctuated by surgery and rehabilitation. 40 seconds after he appeared as a substitute here, though, and it was all worth it, his first touch ending Burnley's stubborn resistance before Steven Pienaar sealed the result in injury time. [LNB]Everton, admittedly, have cause to feel aggrieved that the stalemate lasted beyond the opening exchanges. Leon Osman had already seen one fleeting half-chance, procured through the diligence of Yakubu, elude him when his clever scooped pass set Tony Hibbert clear. [LNB]The right-back picked out Yakubu on the edge of the box, only for the Nigerian's shot to cannon wide off the arm of Michael Duff. Alone in Goodison Park, Howard Webb decided it was not a penalty. The afternoon might, and should, have been very different. [LNB]As it was, Everton sank back into their shells for much of the first half, no doubt ever more convinced that the stars are aligned against them, that they are destined to toil for another six months before the long purgatory of this season is at an end. They ceded ground and, as they did so, Burnley, the Premier League's worst travellers, suddenly felt at home. [LNB]Owen Coyle's side, more than competitive on *terra firma*, had managed just one point away from Turf Moor this season. It is a familiar affliction for those new to the Premier League. Perhaps it is the assertiveness of the opposition, or the silence of the majority in the stands. It seems to unnerve them initially, before familiarity sets in. Burnley are, perhaps, beginning to find their feet. [LNB]In one four-minute flurry, Steven Fletcher and Wade Elliott both called Tim Howard, previously little more than a spectator, into action, while Tim Cahill was forced to block a fierce volley from Andre Bikey, the mountainous defender swivelling elegantly in the box. [LNB]But Everton could seek solace in the fact that, while they remained unconvincing in defence - the makeshift pairing of Lucas Neill and John Heitinga lack height and assurance - at least their opponents hardly looked impermeable. [LNB]Yakubu, slowly approaching the bustling, powerful best which made him such a force before sustaining a knee injury more than a year ago, struck the post after meeting Leighton Baines's cross with an artful, delicate touch, while Brian Jensen did well to race from his line and narrow the angle after Steven Pienaar had picked out Diniyar Bilyaletdinov. [LNB]The ebb and flow continued after the break, both sides retaining their attacking intent and neither curing their defensive ills. Kevin McDonald, briefly freed from his man-marking detail on Pienaar, fired across the face of goal after a weaving run from Chris Eagles, the Championship Ronaldo, a Heitinga free kick drew Jensen in to action, and David Nugent hit the post as he stood unmarked on the six-yard box, Everton's defending from set-pieces as nerve-jangling as ever. [LNB]Even the dismissal of Stephen Jordan, for a second bookable offence, after little more than an hour could not shift the balance inexorably in the hosts' favour. Marouane Fellaini headed straight at Jensen from one Leighton Baines free kick, Yakubu forced Burnley's Beast to tip one looping header over and Bikey deflected a Bilyaltedinov shot wide, but the threat was not constant enough to blunt the visitors' aspirations. [LNB]Burnley, even with 10 men, continued to seek their first Premier League away win, and, ultimately, they paid the price for that ambition. A team who had shut up shop, battened down the hatches and resolved to cling on for dear life may not have conceded Vaughan's goal, scored with his first touch, ghosting in at the far post after Yakubu had missed Fellaini's low, driven cross. [LNB]It crushed Burnley's spirits. Fellaini had already gone close when Yakubu bounced off Graham Alexander's tired challenge and fed Pienaar, the South African beating Jensen at his near post. [LNB]
