DAVID PRENTICE: Goodison dark needs to lift soon for Everton

TODAY is the shortest, darkest day of 2009. Unless your passion is of the Royal Blue hue. If so, yesterday was a decent contender for the gloomiest so far.Because Everton sparkled for 22 minutes against Birmingham; they didn't play badly after the visitors' shock equaliser either.But they still couldn't end a depressing home run which is now beginning to nag away at Evertonian consciousness like a festering sore.It's 91 days since a Goodison victory. That makes for the worst home run since 1972.And even the always eagerly anticipated visit of Birmingham City couldn't alter that bleak statistic.The second city Blues have won just three of their last 47 clashes against Everton - and for 20 minutes it looked like another comprehensive home win was likely. Which made the ultimately dispiriting draw all the more disappointing.That opening 20 minutes at least underlined that Everton do have the ability to improve their currently worrying position.They fired sharp, precise passes to mobile runners, all making imaginative angles to create a succession of shooting opportunities.The first was clinically dispatched by Diniyar Bilyaletdinov after only five minutes.Coincidentally, the ball rippled the Park End net just as Kevin Sheedy - an Everton legend that the Russian is occasionally and optimistically compared to - was taking his seat at the back of the Directors' Box.But then we saw one of those turning points that modern Premier League officials throw up so regularly.Cahill's pass played in Louis Saha, and his finish was equally comprehensive.However a linesman with a face like a robber's dog, but eyes nowhere near as sharp, ruled that Saha had mistimed his run.

Source: Liverpool_Echo