Half a century ago hoards of Evertonians packed into the ‘Old Lady’ Goodison Park to see a diminutive midfielder whose gifted feet, clad in an audacious pair of white leather boots, orchestrated a team’s masterclass.
Alan Ball maybe a fond memory among the oldest of heads in the Gwaldys Street stand, and the coloured footwear may now be commonplace, but in Leon Osman Everton have a player as dependable as that prong in the Holy Trinity, and every bit befitting of the comparison.
Reliability is trait that David Moyes clearly values in a player, it is evident everywhere you look in the injury ravaged team that is ploughing on through what has been a season of discontent, nowhere more so than in the tireless no.21.
The weight of responsibility which Osman has saddled since a spare treatment table at Finch Farm became harder to find than a Fernando Torres goal celebration, should not be underestimated.
Moyes has been forced to field a midfield duo of Phil Neville and John Heitinga in recent weeks, both ‘do a job’ defenders who are uncomfortable over the half way line. With Bilyaletdinov, the enigma Russian on the right, and Magaye Gueye, a French winger with three weeks experience on the job playing on the left, Osman’s ability to unlock doors for Everton has been priceless.
Another outstanding performance in front of his home fans after leading the charge at Molyneux last week saw Everton stretch their unbeaten run to seven in the league.
Osman has assisted Jermaine Beckford’s last two goals for the Blues, and the partnership should have had their hat-trick when, just two minutes in, an Osman nod down allowed Beckford to run clear in the right channel. But his shot was wide and the chance for immediate atonement after last week’s substitutes spat went begging.
Beckford will have been wondering whether he would get another chance at all as his battle with Chris Samba quickly developed into a one sided affair in which the Congolese centre half’s excellent positioning and brute strength seemed to negate the best of Beckford’s wares.
In truth Blackburn defended resolutely throughout the first half in which scarcely a shot was fired in anger. Phil Jagielka had an effort blocked by the Samba monolith and Phil Neville, who has an eye for goal these days, curled a right-footed effort onto the roof of the net.
A point at Goodison would have represented a good day’s work for Steve Kean’s men, who have a string of tough away ties to contend with in their quest for safety. Mindful of that fact, Moyes will have known that invention was the key, for the second week in a row, Osman delivered.
He collected a short corner from the Toffees’ other stand out performer, Magaye Gueye , ten minutes after the restart. Dropping the shoulder to wrongfoot debutante Ruben Rochina, Osman found room for a low shot which may have been headed into the bottom corner, a cannon off the boots of Samba made sure as the ball rattled home to hand Everton had the vital opening.
Seizing on that momentum the Blues could have had another two in as many minutes, Gueye’s low strike into the side netting was followed by a Leighton Baines effort which whistled past Paul Robinson’s right hand post.
Moyes gave the Goodison crowd the chance to applaud what was a highly impressive performance from Magaye Gueye when replaced the 20-year-old with Seamus Coleman in the 65th minute. The Irishman’s injection of pace proved to be too much for Blackburn’s tiring legs and when Phil Jones’ lunge brought the substitute to ground in the area, it seemed like an eventuality.
Leighton Baines slammed home the penalty to make the three points sure.
David Moyes, speaking after the match, praised Osman for a “terrific” all round performance.
He said: “I thought Osman was terrific today, and we needed him because we’ve lacked that flair since Steven Pienaar has gone, and Mikel Arteta is missing at the moment, so we’ve missed that creativity.
“Osman did all that and more today. He led the line up front, he won the ball in the middle of that park, he made things happen and he scored a really good goal as well.”
The win keeps Everton in touch with Liverpool who are now just one point ahead of the Blues before their trip to the Emirates this weekend.
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Everton (4-5-1): Howard, Hibbert, Baines, Heitinga (Rodwell 15), Jagielka, Distin, Neville, Bilyaletdinov, Osman, Beckford (Vellios 85), Gueye (Coleman 65)
Subs: Mucha, Coleman, Shkodran Mustafi, Rodwell, Forshaw, Vellios, Anichebe
Blackburn (4-5-1): Robinson, Olsson, Samba, Givet (Pedersen 67), Salgado, P Jones, J Jones, Emerton, Dunn, Santa Cruz (Roberts 61), Rochina (Mwaruwari 81)
Subs: Bunn, Hanley, Pedersen, Kalinic, Mwaruwari, Roberts, Diouf
Goals: Osman 54, Baines (pen) 75
Ref: Friend
Att: 35,857
BY Aaron Sharp @ Goodison Park
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