Hi Guys ,
I joined ' Love Everton ' in memory of my best childhood mate , Gwilym Roberts who was a staunch Evertonian .
We both grew up on Anglesey , I went back home recently to visit his Mother , Betty who is 83 now and suffers with her health .
Gwil died of Motor Neurone Disease just over four years ago now - that's why I'm here .
His Uncle Emlyn was a Steward at Everton , and Gwil and I stayed with him and his Wife in 1968 , and he took us to our very first game , Everton v Ipswich in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup .
Our School in Amlwch , Anglesey used to run trips to see Everton while we were pupils there , and I managed to persuade the organiser , our Sports Master that the West Ham fixture would be a good one to see [ I am West Ham ] and he agreed , so off we went on a Monday evening . All I could remember about it was that Brian Labone was playing as was Geoff Hurst , the only game that matches that was played in 1968 also , but I thought it was much later than that , 1971. or '72 .
My last Everton v West Ham game was back in 1999 , when you tonked us 6-0 , I'd taken my young Nephew to Goodison on a trip from Anglesey , the only West Ham win I ever saw at Goodison was the 1-2 when Brooking and Clyde Best were on the score-sheet in 1972 .
I don't get out much these days after an operation on three discs in my lower back failed to cure my problem , so I have to watch the games on ' Match Of The Day ' or BT Sport these days - we've been living on Skye these past 26 years so as you can imagine , just about everywhere is too far to go for a casual visit .
I bought a set of books from a chap on Ebay earlier on this year who happened to be from Merseyside , a lad called John and we got chatting over the net , I told him that my first ever game was Everton v Ipswich in 1968 , and along with the books came the programme from the very same match - he's an Evertonian and was at that match as well - what a lovely man he is !!
I won't give out his full name , but his Grandson received an Award from the Club recently , so you may know him , he's an excellent lad .
Anyway , back to the game on Saturday - from what MOTD would give us , it seemed like a bad tempered match starting off with the tumble/ dive from Barkley , the offside goal by Lukaku , a couple of heavy tackles on Amalfitano and that embarrassing stunt by Tomkins .
Then a game of football broke out !
It didn't seem to me that West Ham created many chances and when they did Everton were well prepared for them , if Carroll had gone to the near post instead of the back , he might have connected with that Jenkinson cross .
Apparently , Zarate played well , but I thought he was very lucky to get the goal , then your 2nd came as a result of naivety from the West Ham defence , Collins tried his best to slow things down with a foul on Lukaku , but he's a strong boy that lad of yours , and we know the rest ! It could have been 3-1 , but Eto'o shot wide from close range .
We'll have to wait for our last home game of the Season before we meet again , the 16th May , hopefully both teams will be sitting in a Champions League spot by then !!
Cheers , lads !