ECHO Everton reporter Chris Beesley reflects on a game at Sunderland that was pivotal for the Blues, David Moyes and himself
16:45, 01 Nov 2025
Tim Cahill heads in a last minute winning goal during the match between Sunderland and Everton on December 31, 2005(Image: Michael Steele/Getty Images)
David Moyes has been in tighter spots than this going to Sunderland as Everton manager and emerged stronger. And one game in particular proved to be a watershed moment in his lengthy first spell in charge of the Blues.
In a world that now demands instant gratification, such are the fickle fates of football in 2025, Moyes has come in for some flak from sections of the fanbase over the past few days. Never mind a week being a long time in politics… just try being at the sharp end of the business in the so-called ‘beautiful game.’
Everton, of course, went into the last international break on the crest of a wave down by the Mersey thanks to Jack Grealish netting his first goal for the club with what proved to be a dramatic maiden stoppage-time victory at Hill Dickinson Stadium over Crystal Palace.
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The comeback success against the team that lifted the FA Cup and Community Shield this year, and were attempting to extend their six-month unbeaten run to a 20th match, ensured that the Blues were only a point behind Oliver Glasner’s high-flying side, who were singing ‘we’re gonna win the league’ when they were ahead.
Despite Everton arguably playing better football over longer sustained periods against Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur – certainly until Jake O’Brien’s equaliser was ruled out in the latter – it’s a results-driven industry and back-to-back defeats, the second of which was the heaviest since the Scot’s return, have increased the volume of murmuring.
Along with goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, it’s Moyes’ first return to Sunderland since he was employed by the Black Cats himself. Current frustrations pale in comparison to what he faced when the Blues travelled to the Stadium of Light on December 31, 2005, though.
After guiding Everton to fourth the previous season – which over two decades on remains their highest-ever Premier League finish to date – the club’s Champions League dream soon turned sour as, following an inexplicable decision from Pierluigi Collina, brought out of retirement to take control of the match, spotted a phantom offence to deny Duncan Ferguson a goal that would have levelled the aggregate score in Villarreal, Moyes’ men were dumped out of the competition in the final qualifying round stage.
A second European elimination soon followed as the Blues were spanked 5-1 in Romania by Dinamo Bucharest and between them, these were two of 11 defeats from the opening 14 games, a wretched run that also included being knocked out of a third competition at the first time of asking, the League Cup, at Middlesbrough.
Some morale-boosting wins followed to climb out of the relegation zone but by the time Everton headed to Wearside to finish the calendar year, they went into the fixture on the back of four consecutive losses, a sequence that included back-to-back 4-0 reversals against Bolton Wanderers and Aston Villa plus a 3-1 Merseyside Derby defeat at Goodison Park that saw the hosts finish with nine men against Liverpool.
At least Mick McCarthy’s Sunderland, propping up the table without a home win in their last 20 matches were in an even sorrier state. As this correspondent, reporting on the first Blues game of his career wrote at the time: “We all have some troubles in our lives but whenever we’re feeling blue – and Evertonians certainly have been so far throughout this festive period – we’re told to count our blessings as there’s always someone worse off than yourself. Fortunately for Everton, for all Sunderland’s pluck and determination, the Wearsiders are, statistically at least, the poorest side to have ever graced the Premier League.”
My 11-word appraisal of why Blues goalkeeper Nigel Martyn was man-of-the-match – “kept Everton in the game during a sustained period of pressure” – hardly did justice to the magnitude of the veteran Cornishman’s herculean efforts between the sticks though.
Set against the backdrop of unused Sunderland substitute Alan Stubbs being cheered by the away fans as he warmed up – after captaining his beloved Blues to fourth the previous season before quitting the club because Moyes wouldn’t offer him a longer new contract, he’d end his nightmare spell in the North East less than a month later, returning to Goodison – McCarthy’s men threw the kitchen sink at the visitors to no avail.
Without suspended midfield pair Phil Neville and Mikel Arteta after they were both given their marching orders against Rafael Benitez’s Reds, Everton found themselves on the back foot for prolonged periods.
On-loan Liverpool player Anthony Le Tallec was denied by a spectacular Martyn save while Jon Stead, who was remembered for his winning goal at Goodison for Blackburn Rovers the previous season, twice went close, only for one effort to be deflected wide and another flash across the face of goal.
The decisive moment came from a corner in the 92nd minute though in what was the ultimate smash and grab raid by the Blues. My match report at the time read: “In what must have been a nightmare combination for Sunderland, former Black Cats boo-boy victim Kevin Kilbane provided the cross for Tim Cahill, who famously nodded in the goal that beat Sunderland in an FA Cup semi-final two seasons ago. Cahill rose majestically in typical fashion and delivered a bullet straight into Sunderland hearts and the back of the home net.”
While the 1-0 win would not usher in a return of the Goodison glory days, its potential as a pivotal juncture for Moyes was realised with what I now reflect upon as considerable foresight from my 26-year-old self, still learning the ropes in football journalism at a daily newspaper. I observed: “Dean Whitehead’s inability to pick up Tim Cahill for a stoppage time header could go down in Everton’s folklore alongside Kevin Brock’s dodgy back pass saving Howard Kendall at Oxford United in 1984.”
Indeed, the Blues would rally to pick up two thirds of their points that season in the second half of the campaign to finish 11th. After the boom and bust of his early years at Everton, going from seventh to 17th and then up to fourth, Moyes’ men would be a model of consistency from then on.
Over what proved to be the last seven seasons of the Glaswegian’s first spell at the club, they’d never finish lower than eighth and would go on to achieve four top-six places, including a brace of coming fifth, plus consecutive finishes above Liverpool in his final two years. Nobody has managed Everton so well over such a sustained period in the Premier League era.
If Moyes’ season in charge of Sunderland proved to be his nadir, bringing the only relegation on his CV after having his fingers burned at Manchester United, the 62-year-old has rebuilt his reputation with his two spells at West Ham United, leading the east London outfit to their first major trophy in 43 years. He’s returned to Merseyside older, but also much wiser and as a better all-round manager from his now vast experience of the ups and downs within the game.
Bridging the generation gap to understand a new wave of players, Moyes understands the Blues better than anyone else in the managerial business and proved an inspired choice by The Friedkin Group less than a month after their takeover, to preside not only over the departure from Goodison Park but the new era at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
He remains a crucial figure at the helm at this pivotal time in Everton’s history and as Tony Cottee, a man with both clubs close to his heart, warned this week when speaking to the ECHO about supporters questioning the manager: “If you look at the mess that West Ham are in now compared to where they were under David Moyes, they’re in massive relegation trouble, you’ve got to be a little bit careful with things.”
