Post Past by Philip J Redmond Everton Supporter, Daily Post
FOR THE last time a league game between Everton and Newcastle carried so much significance, you have to go back to Easter Monday 1987, when an Everton victory all but sealed the title.
This was the season when Howard Kendall's injury-hit squad pulled together to grab an unlikely title as Liverpool uncharacteristically fell apart at the seams after an unlucky League Cup final defeat to Arsenal.
This was the game when the old record of Liverpool never losing when Ian Rush scored was blown out of the water by champagne Charlie Nicholas.
The Blues, meanwhile, had struggled without the likes of Southall, Stevens, Van Den Hauwe, Mount-field, Reid, Sharp and Sheedy for large chunks of the season, and it was the efforts of the likes of Langley, Adams, Power, Harper and Wilkinson that proved just as important as the more established names.
Newcastle came to Goodison with a big following in the crowd of over 43,000 after hitting a run of form inspired by Peter Beardsley and a young Paul Gascoigne. However they were beaten by a hat-trick by a player who, despite boasting a very healthy scoring record for the Blues, never seems to get the credit his efforts deserved.
Wayne Clarke had arrived around transfer deadline day from Birmingham City and had already scored a couple of goals in the Toffees' run-in. Tall and lean just like his older brother Alan, the cool Midlander was equally deadly in front of goal and only lacked maybe a yard of pace at the top level. As it was, he did well for the Blues and never better than that blustery spring day.
After a tight first half, it took only a few minutes for 'Young Sniffer' to break the deadlock. Adrian Heath set up his second in the closing stages with Clarke grabbing the match-ball with a far-post header as news of Liverpool's defeat to Manchester United came through.
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