Li Tie welcomes first goal in Everton
(Sunday Herald, England)
Updated: 2003-07-27 11:02

Chines international Li Tie socred his first goal in England as Everton defeated Rangers in a pre-season friendly at Ibrox yesterday, but the real losers may have been David Moyes and Sven Goran Eriksson.

The sensational strike may help Li to gain a permanent transfer to Everton.(www.evertonfc.com)

'He's a tough boy, so that worried us because he is not the kind who lies down for anything,' Moyes said. 'He put his foot over the ball and it looks like he went over on his ankle. It doesn't look too bad but we won't take any risks.'

Pre-season friendlies can be notoriously tame affairs, but when a Scottish and an English team meet the resulting match is never likely to be entirely devoid of meaning. In front of a sizeable travelling support in a slightly disappointing attendance of 28,000, an understrength Rangers team largely matched Everton in a fixture in which fortunes fluctuated until the last minute.

Goals from Steven Thompson and second-half substitute Michael Mols, either side of strikes for Everton from David Unsworth and Li Tie, looked to have ensured the Scottish champions parity on the scoreline. But that was before the dramatic intervention of an old foe. Former Celtic defender Alan Stubbs, who had been jeered remorselessly from the kick-off, strode on to a short Scot Gemmill free-kick in the last minute to send in a shot which took a minor deflection off Michael Ball before surprising Stefan Klos at his near post. 'I thought the booing was going to be worse than it was,' Stubbs reflected.

Such has been Alex McLeish's stated desire to bring in a striker that the club have been linked with the likes of Luciano Figueroa and Kevin Phillips, but yesterday the opening goal provided an intriguing glimpse of what Thompson will be able to contribute next season.

Neil McCann had done well to twist past Tony Hibbert before lashing in an inviting cross from the left, but there was still plenty remaining to be done when Thompson leapt above his marker to power a header into the bottom corner from six yards.

It was an old-fashioned striker's goal which, along with an overall display which also saw him link well with his wide men, and smack a post with a second-half effort, earned praise both from Stubbs and the Rangers manager. 'What he [Thompson] has done is send a message to Ronald de Boer, Michael Mols and Shota [Arveladze] that if they drop in form, he is knocking on the door,' McLeish said.

Thompson's all-round game was also more praiseworthy than certain notable others. Nuno Capucho, on his home debut, lasted just 45 minutes and was prominent only for brief spells in the match.

Although McLeish was resigned to missing many regulars for this game, the extent of their injury concerns just a fortnight away from their opening Champions League tie against FC Copenhagen or Sliema Wanderers will be troubling for Rangers fans.

Mikel Arteta had wanted to play, but was advised by doctors to miss the game with a groin problem, Zurab Khizanishvili was deemed still not to be 100% due to a knee ligament strain and the latest addition to the injury list was Fernando Ricksen who missed out due to an ankle problem. Ronald de Boer, who has been nursing a swollen knee, started on the bench, and there was still no sign of Barry Ferguson, although he will make his return after his groin operation against Linfield on Wednesday.

'It was a spirited performance with the players we had missing,' McLeish said.

Ball, a former Everton man, was another of the Ibrox side's best players alongside Craig Moore at centre-half, where he kept Rooney's nuisance value to a minimum. But making his comeback after 18 months out with a knee injury, events conspired against him the longer the game went on. He lunged in needlessly on Tomas Radzinski as the Everton man burrowed towards the byline, providing just enough contact for the Canadian international to go down. The upshot was a penalty kick and substitute Unsworth rolled it effortlessly into Klos' bottom left-hand corner. 'I should have known better because he is very clever,' said Ball. 'He does that quite a lot.'

Duncan Ferguson duly returned to his former stomping ground from the substitute's bench to rapturous cheers with 12 minutes remaining, but he still found himself upstaged.

Li Tie, who has been on loan to Everton from Lioning Bird for more than a season now, had emerged on to the park alongside Ferguson, and the Chinese international midfielder ran on to Niclas Alexandersson's perceptive flick to catch a first-time half-volley that sped into Klos's top corner. It had only been his third touch since appearing from the bench, and will have done no harm to his chances of earning a permanent deal.

But on this occasion it took Rangers only one minute to respond. A hopeful Arveladze shot took a deflection which slowed the pace of the ball within the danger area and Mols won the race to drag the ball away from Steve Simonsen and roll it into the unguarded net. All that was left was Stubbs' last-minute free-kick which completed Ball's misery, following a needless foul by Maurice Ross on Li Tie. On an occasion billed as a charity Blue Nose Day, it was an ironic outcome.