Four years ago a horror tackle at St James Park saw Anichebe ruled out of football for more than six months and led to an out of court settlement with Kevin Nolan. Then earlier this season he thought he had scored against Newcastle, only for the match officials to fail to spot his header had crossed the goalline. So his celebrations after last night's clinical finish fired Everton up into fifth place in the Premier League were ecstatic.
"It was a great moment for Victor and he's always got a goal in him," said delighted boss David Moyes.
"I've always said he can make a big contribution. He just needs to believe in himself a little bit more. And I think the crowd's reaction to him at the final whistle, when they chanted his name, said a lot.
"I never even thought about the injury he sustained here, but he didn't half play well when he came on, holding the ball up for us.
"And it was a really well worked goal.
"I won't take any credit for the switch. The players are always the ones who take the credit. I just felt that after half-time we didn't quite have a grip of the game as well as we'd like, or as well as we had in the first half.
"Newcastle had upped it a little bit and put us under a bit more pressure and we needed to find another way of putting them back on the back foot."
Anichebe's close range finish and a stunning free-kick by Leighton Baines saw Everton come from behind to triumph – the 20th point they have claimed from a losing position this season and a record topped only by Manchester United this season.
"If you're going to come to St James' Park and beat Newcastle you're going to have to play very well," added Moyes.
“And you're also going to have to be up against one of the strongest teams in the Premier League.
"It looked like Newcastle were hurting a little bit, they came out of the blocks and we didn't deal well with the first ball up and we found ourselves a goal down again.
Source: liverpool_echo
