Both Gerard Deulofeu and Jurgen Klopp know all about how windy it can get at Goodison Park – just wait until the move to Bramley-Moore Dock – but those blustery conditions produced one of the strangest moments in Everton history.
A decade ago today, on January 4, 2012, Tim Howard became the first – and to date only – goalkeeper to score for the Blues in what is now more than 143 years of football… and he didn’t even celebrate his unique achievement!
Some 63 minutes into a game against the Premier League’s bottom club Bolton Wanderers at Goodison, the American hit a wind-assisted 101-yard clearance up the field that bounced once just outside the D in front of the visitors’ penalty area before wickedly sailing up in the air again to go over his opposite number Adam Bodgan’s head and into the Gwladys Street goal.
The ECHO’s Greg O’Keeffe said: “Howard’s punt bounced then arced over Bogdan’s head – a unique moment in Goodison’s modern history that is destined to be watched for many years to come.
“Classy as ever, the USA international was muted in his celebration of his only career goal in the Premier League due to empathy for his opposite number.”
Team-mates such as John Heitinga, Sylvain Distin, Leighton Baines and Howard’s USA international colleague Landon Donovan all rushed to embrace him but the embarrassed custodian refused to offer any cheers of his own.
He said: “It was cruel. You saw the back fours and the keepers not being able to believe balls all night, and at the back one wrong step and it can be a nightmare.
“For our goal I was disappointed from a goalkeepers’ union standpoint.
“You never want to see that happen. It’s not nice, it's embarrassing, so I felt for Adam but you have to move on from it.”
At least Howard’s muted response also spared him any further blushes because he might have come to regret wildly celebrating his opener given that the struggling Trotters fought back to win 2-1.
O’Keeffe said: “Just three minutes more had elapsed when Louis Saha misplaced a pass and Owen Coyle’s side produced a slick move involving Kevin Davies and Nigel Reo-Coker before David Ngog got a yard ahead of Distin and curled a fine finish inside Howard’s right post.
“It got worse. The wind was a factor as Howard punched a wafted free kick away, and Chris Eagles reacted fastest to slip a wonderful pass to Gary Cahill that left Everton’s defenders flat-footed and allowed the Chelsea target to score (78) with a low drive across the keeper.”
Indeed, O’Keeffe’s ECHO colleague David Prentice summed up the glum evening for the Blues with some gallows humour by declaring: “Well isn’t that just typically Everton FC?
“A pair of out and out strikers, the USA national team’s all-time top scorer wide on the right – and not a single defender on the seven-man subs bench.
“Then a goalkeeper goes and scores. But even more typically Everton, just minutes after Tim Howard was being congratulated for a highly unusual opener, Everton’s defensive resilience cracked and Bolton snatched a more conventional equaliser.
“And just when they needed a Cahill on the scoresheet, it was Bolton’s Gary who obliged.
“With Phil Jagielka limping off holding his knee and Jack Rodwell beating the turf in frustration after pulling his hamstring again – a thoroughly wretched night off the pitch was matched on it. After a couple of promising results and performances, Everton were awful.
“The freak effort from Howard was the only occasion Bogdan was stretched all night, while Howard was called on to pull off two outstanding stops.”
Although two outfield players had started in goal for Everton in the club’s early years – Hope Robertson in a 4-3 win at Newton Heath on October 19, 1892 and Jack Crelley for the first 12 minutes of a goalless draw at home to Manchester City on Christmas Eve 1904 after both Leigh Roose and understudy Billy Scott arrived late due to fog – Howard became the first keeper to score for the Blues.
Neville Southall once netted in a 6-5 penalty shoot-out defeat at home to Charlton Athletic after a 2-2 draw in the Full Members’ Cup quarter-finals on 3 March 1987 but goals in shoot-outs of course don’t count in the record books.
Howard was not the first goalkeeper to score at Goodison in the Premier League though as that honour went to Peter Schmeichel who volleyed in from close range in the 92 nd minute of Aston Villa’s 3-2 defeat to Everton on October 20, 2001.
The Dane’s effort was the first of six instances of goalkeeper’s scoring in the Premier League.
In addition to Howard’s goal, Tottenham Hotspur’s Paul Robinson and Stoke City’s Asmir Begovic – now of Everton of course – both netted with long punts upfield while Blackburn Rovers’ Brad Friedel scored with a close range shot and most recently, Liverpool’s Alisson with a stoppage time headed winner at West Bromwich Albion last season.
