Everton 1 Manchester U 2
Everton 1 Manchester United 2, Goodison Park, English Premier League, May 11, 2003. Sir Alex Ferguson´s Manchester United rounded off the Championship winning season of 2002-03 in style by defeating Everton at Goodison Park. Kevin Campbell gave The Toffees the lead after eight minutes of action, but goals from David Beckham and Ruud van Nistelrooy on 42 and 77 minutes respectively handed United a well-deserved 2-1 victory in the end.
The Merseysiders went into an early lead when Scotland international Gary Naysmith sent a short flag-kick to Danish midfielder Thomas Gravesen whose subsequent cross was met by former Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, and Trabzonspor striker Kevin Campbell who headed the ball past Manchester United goalkeeper Roy Carroll and into the back of the net to make the scoreboard at Goodison Park read 1-0 in favour of the home team. The already crowned English Premier League winners hit back late in the first period, though, when midfield playmaker David Beckham scored with a well executed free-kick from some twenty yards out to equalise for the visiting side only three minutes before the sound of the half time whistle. With a mere twelve minutes left of the final fixture of the Barclaycard Premiership season, Everton defender Alan Stubbs fouled Dutch international Ruud van Nistelrooy inside the eighteen-yard area and the natural born marksman subsequently stepped up to the spot himself and beat Three Lions goaltender Richard Wright to record his 25th goal of the 2002-03 campaign. Everton Team: Richard Wright, David Unsworth, Steve Watson, Alan Stubbs, Tony Hibbert, Gary Naysmith, Joseph Yobo, Lee Carsley, Thomas Gravesen, Kevin Campbell, Wayne Rooney. Substitutes: Alessandro Pistone, Nick Chadwick, Duncan Ferguson. Manchester United Team: Roy Carroll, John O’Shea, Mikael Silvestre, Paul Scholes, Wesley Brown, Rio Ferdinand, David Beckham, Roy Keane, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Ryan Giggs. Substitutes: Laurent Blanc, Phil Neville, Quinton Fortune.
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