Gooch gets past T-Ho

UEFA Cup 1st Round 2nd Leg
Stade Maurice Dufrasne, Liege, Belgium

FULL TIME: STANDARD LIEGE 2-1 EVERTON
(Standard win 4-3 on aggregate)
Witsel 21', Jagielka 66', Jovanovic pen 78'

Oguchi Onyewu's Standard Liege knocked Everton's Tim Howard out of Europe after downing the Toffees 2-1 in their UEFA Cup first round, second leg clash.

Witsel met Milan Jovanovic's quick right-wing cross in the 22nd minute to beat Howard from six yards and give the Belgian champions the advantage at the break.

Everton had struggled to cope with Liege's five-man midfield and their twin strikers Louis Saha and Yakubu have had nothing to feed on up front.

The second 45 minutes were do or die for the Toffees, who needed at least two goals.

Everton coach David Moyes threw on an extra striker in Victor Anichebe, replacing Tony Hibbert to switch to a 4-3-3.

With 22 minutes remaining and from a corner Phil Jagielka stabbed the ball home from close range to make it 1-1 on the night. Yet Standard still led on away goals. Former Ajax ace Steven Pienaar then replaced an injured Louis Saha for Everton.

With 12 minutes to go, Standard at last caught the advancing Toffees on the break and scored a killer second. Leighton Baines brought down the raiding Jovanovic in the box and the Liege man converted the resulting spot-kick. Howard dove the right way but perhaps too quickly as Jovanovic's shot passed close to his body on its way into the net.

Everton were still failing to create chances, concentrating attacks down the middle and failing to turn the Liege defense and put crosses into the box.

Victor Anichebe missed a late chance from Tim Cahill's pass to send the tie into extra-time, but Standard, with Onyewu imperious at the back, deserved to go through the winners.


Lineups:

SL (4-5-1): Rorys Aragon, Dante, Oguchi Onyewu, Wilfried Dalmat, Marcos Camozzato, Mohamed Sarr, Benjamin Nicaise, Steven Defour, Axel Witsel, Milan Jovanovic, Deiudonne Mbokani.

Subs: Jeremy Devriendt, Reginal Goreux, Salim Toama, Tomislav Mikulic, Leon Benko, Marco Ingrao, Eliaquim Mangala.

EVE (4-4-2): Tim Howard, Tony Hibbert, Phil Jagielka, Joleon Lescott, Leighton Baines, Phil Neville, Leon Osman, Tim Cahill, Mikel Arteta, Yakubu, Louis Saha.

Subs: Carlo Nash, Joseph Yobo, Segundo Castillo, Jorge Nuno Valente, Steven Pienaar, Jack Rodwell, Victor Anichebe

- by Sean O'Conor