6th November 1982
EVERTON (0) 0
LIVERPOOL (1) 5 (Rush 11, 51, 71, 85, Lawrenson 55)
EVERTON: Southall; Borrows, Wright, Keeley, Bailey; King, McMahon, Sheedy; Heath, Johnson (Richardson), Sharp
LIVERPOOL: Grobbelaar; Neal, Thompson, Hansen, Kennedy; Lee, Lawrenson, Souness, Johnston; Rush, Dalglish (Hodgson)
The following November, Liverpool were at Goodison Park having just knocked HJK Helsinki out of the European Cup in midweek. Their League form had seen them beaten just twice in 12 matches, whereas Everton had suffered 5 such setbacks already. Everton were unbeaten at home, though, winning 4 of their 6 matches at Goodison. Over 52,000 packed into the ground and witnessed a goalscoring masterclass.
On a windy Saturday in November, Billy Wright should’ve given the home side the lead when he failed to keep his header down, despite being unchallenged. Just after 10 minutes gone and Alan Hansen intercepted a pass from Andy King in midfield and started out on a familiar charge forward. He slipped one challenge in the centre circle and then played a perfectly weighted pass for Ian Rush to run onto and he calmly slotted the ball past Southall to give the visitors the lead.
Within minutes a ball forward on the right from Sammy Lee found Rush clear of the defence again, but his shot hit the bar. Everton were getting torn apart by the sheer pace of Rush. Southall was being let down by his defence and one such chance saw him pull off a great reaction save from a Dalglish header. A ball cleared out of defence was again clumsily dealt with by Glenn Keeley, allowing Rush to put Dalglish in but his shot narrowly went over. The game was not yet at the halfway mark and yet Liverpool could’ve had 5. In a controversial moment, Dalglish headed Liverpool further in front only to find the linesman had put his flag up for offside. The referee initially ignored it but Everton’s protests were enough to persuade him to consult his assistant and the goal was chalked off.
Back then replays weren’t shown from all angles, but looking at the footage again the flag was definitely down when the ball was played. Soon after, Hansen’s ball from the back saw Dalglish get clear of Keeley but the Everton defender, on loan from Blackburn, pulled him back and gave the referee no option but to send him off. It was Keeley’s first appearance for the Blues and he’d now left his side completely in the lurch.
From the resulting free-kick, Sammy Lee’s shot hit the wall but as it bounced around he had another go and hit the bar with the ball bouncing back off Southall, agonizingly wide of the post. Liverpool were relentless and even Mark Lawrenson got in on the act but his header was just wide. The pace had again been frenetic and somehow there was only 1 goal in it at half-time although Everton looked shell-shocked.
Early in the second period Hansen again brought the ball out from the back and found Rush, about 30 yards out. He ran forward and then hit a shot which got deflected, leaving Southall stranded. Finally Liverpool had doubled their lead. Lawrenson, playing in midfield, then charged forward releasing Rush on the left. His looping cross was headed just wide by Dalglish. But it wasn’t long before another goal came.
Lee took a quick throw on the right and Everton were caught sleeping, as Dalglish was clear. His ball across the face of the goal was turned in at the far post by Lawrenson. Ten minutes later and a wonderful quick passing move involving Souness, Dalglish and Rush ended with the Welshman converting the chance, only to see the linesman had raised his flag for offside. Dalglish was orchestrating things and during one move he played a ball out to Rush on the right from the centre-circle, and was then on hand to receive it back on the edge of the area only to find his shot was straight at Southall.
With 20 minutes still remaining, Dalglish again put Rush through and he was clear of the defence, but his shot hit the post. As it came back Rush had time to fire the rebound back in past Southall for his hat-trick, the first in a Merseyside derby since 1935 (thanks Motty!). With 5 minutes to go the game resembled a training ground outing as Lee was given too much time in midfield and as he watched for the runs ahead of him, he picked out Rush and yet again he was clear of the defence and he neatly pushed the ball past Southall and then passed it into the net for his 4th goal. It was a horror show for the home side but Rush hit the headlines on a day when Liverpool could’ve hit double figures.
In Paisley’s final year as manager they picked up the League again and the League Cup again. Everton finished 7th in the League, denying another double for Liverpool with a 0-0 draw at Anfield.