When a Goodison derby would not finish quietly

Four times behind, four times level

On 20 February 1991, Everton and Liverpool played an FA Cup fifth-round replay at Goodison that stretched into extra time. Liverpool’s own retrospective records John Barnes putting the visitors ahead for the fourth time before Tony Cottee equalised again. It is a useful account precisely because the sense of a match refusing to be settled survives even in the opponent’s telling. Liverpool’s retrospective on the 4–4

The shape of that contest matters as much as the eight goals. Every new Liverpool lead changed the problem facing Everton; every reply reopened it. A supporter looking back knows the final score, but nobody inside the ground had that reassurance while the next attack was developing. The drama depends on remembering the uncertainty rather than watching the goals as a completed set.

There is also a difference between rescuing a tie and winning it. A 4–4 draw was not a trophy or a completed cup campaign. Keeping that distinction makes the memory stronger, because it identifies what Everton actually achieved that night: repeated recovery when the match appeared to be slipping away. The refusal to accept the latest setback became the story.

The last men’s Goodison league derby

On 12 February 2025, Beto put Everton ahead before Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah turned the score in Liverpool’s favour. James Tarkowski’s equaliser in the eighth minute of added time secured a 2–2 draw. The Premier League report places the goal in the context of the final men’s league derby at Goodison; Everton’s official highlights preserve the sequence to watch again. Premier League report · Everton’s official highlights

The connection with 1991 is emotional rather than a claim that the matches were identical. One was a cup replay with extra time; the other a league match in the stadium’s final season as the men’s home. Both left Everton supporters with a late equaliser to remember. The context makes each distinct, while the sudden reversal in feeling makes the comparison understandable.

Tarkowski’s goal also shows how quickly a player can acquire a place in a ground’s history. A centre-back arriving for one last attacking moment can become inseparable from the memory of an entire evening. That does not require rewriting the rest of his career or pretending the result was a win. The moment has enough force on its own.

Keep the sequence with the memory

To revisit either match, first write down the scoring order. Then watch the build-up to the equaliser, not just the strike. Notice where possession is recovered, who provides the next option and how many players have committed forward. The final touch is the easiest image to remember; the actions that made it possible often disappear from repeated clips.

For a personal account, add where you were watching and what you believed immediately before the goal. Did you expect another chance? Were you looking at the clock, the pitch or the person next to you? Those details explain the feeling without needing to claim that an entire crowd experienced the night in exactly the same way.

It is equally useful to preserve the next morning: a newspaper, a message, a conversation or a short diary entry. Derby history lives beyond the final whistle because the fixture belongs to relationships across the city. The account of what happened on the pitch and the record of what it meant to you can sit together, clearly labelled.

Goodison’s place in these stories comes from the combination of match, setting and people. The men’s derby has moved on to another home, while the old ground continues its football life. What remains available is the evidence of those evenings and the memories they prompted: two draws that need considerably more than a scoreline to explain.

Keep reading on Bramley Moore

• The men’s final Goodison home match
• Neville Southall: the keeper behind an era

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