Ferguson steals the limelight

WHEN all is paid and trumpeted there is the football, the 90 minutes of alchemy on the field. That is where Newcastle are at odds. Everton were unquestionably at one on Saturday.

From the kick off, Andrei Kanchelskis received the ball five yards behind David Beresford. It sent a signal to the whole of Tyneside. Newcastle's defence all flat four of them were in a flat spin ever after. Even £15 million might not have put it right.

After all the talk, of "freak shows", one half expected Alan Shearer to appear with eight goal scoring feet. Instead Duncan Ferguson seemed to have two heads. "We defended better against him in the second half," said Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan. "Maybe he got tired of heading it." By then the damage had been done.

Ferguson's strength, bundling before bundled, won an arguable penalty. A typical soaring nod down set up Gary Speed for the second. Ferguson was at the head and heart of another half dozen chances.

One brilliant twisting header from Alan Shearer was matched in kind by Neville Southall's save in his 700th appearance for Everton. But "where were the crosses, the invention, the cute one twos?" asked Keegan.

Everton stuck to their task and achieved tight defence, bite in midfield and variety in attack where Speed, "coming home" at a quarter Shearer's price, balanced Kanchelskis's raids on the right and profited from Newcastle's lack of second phase defence. With Earl Barrett's return from injury and the prospect of full seasons from Kanchelskis and Ferguson, they sense a new beginning and they haven't paid over the odds for it. Newcastle, like someone wearing diamonds to a hoedown, seemed increasingly to sense the embarrassment of riches. While Everton have hit the track running and will be happy to go to Old Trafford on Wednesday. Newcastle, burdened by necessity, have hit it reeling. This time, perhaps they are getting their hiccups in first.