It’s Dunc and disorderly at Goodison
Moronic fans ruin legend’s return as Villa stars are hit with bottle after Buendia nets winner
Duncan Ferguson was brought in to rally the Goodison Park crowd after Rafa Benitez’s ruinous reign sparked a Mersey mutiny.
But Everton’s fans let the Scot down in his first game back in caretaker charge as two Aston Villa players were struck by a bottle as they celebrated a goal that sent the Toffees spiralling further towards the drop zone.
Emiliano Buendia’s header on the stroke of half- time was enough to hand Steven Gerrard a victory as the former Liverpool captain revelled in the role of panto villain across the city.
But as Vi l la’s players celebrated in front of the Everton support, a bottle hit former Blue Lucas Digne and Ma t t y Ca s h . In his programme notes, Ferguson finished off by writing: “I will do everything to ensure that come ful l- time, you are bouncing out of this ground, standing tall and proud to call yourself an Evertonian.”
Yet one moronic act brought shame on the club and the defeat leaves Everton just five points clear of the drop zone.
With fans f lying a plane above Goodison to protest aga inst chairman Bi l l Kenwright’s “22 years of failure” it was a dark day all round for the club.
Everton moved quickly to identify the fan who allegedly threw the bottle. They said in a statement: “Police have arrested a supporter for throwing a missile onto the pitch. Several objects were thrown towards the pitch following Villa’s goal, with one missile appearing to strike two opposition players.
“The club will issue bans to any fans identified throwing objects.”
Villa star Cash was stunned to be hit, saying: “Crazy – it hit me straight in the head.”
Te am- ma t e Ty rone Mings added: “It was disgusting really, it is about all they have got. They tried to make it ugly, an intimidat i ng atmosphere, and we got the three points.”
Ferguson also took aim at the morons, saying: “I never saw the bottle throwing but the supporters should not be doing that.
“You cannot condone it – that is wrong. In the first half we were off it, maybe a wee bit of stage fright.
“The effort was there and I could not fault them. I tried my best and the players tried their best but we have got to get it right now, we are starting to slip down there.
“I’ll carry on until the new manager comes in. That’s it.”
Villa boss Gerrard fully expected to stage a secondhalf rearguard action.
He said: “We expected Duncan to pour more fuel on the fire in the second half. We played big today and I’m really proud of the players.
“This performance was about grit, about steel.
“I asked the players to really commit because this game was going to ask us something quite alien – defend long balls constantly.”