Sam Allardyce was a privileged spectator at Goodison as Wayne Rooney rolled back the years with a wonderful hat-trick. The Everton captain welcomed the manager -in-waiting watching from the stands with the first three goals in a comprehensive 4-0 victory over West Ham that lifted his side into 13th place in the table, and the player’s first hat-trick for his boyhood club was completed with a stunning goal from the halfway line.
“I don’t think I’ve ever hit a ball better in my life,” Rooney said of the 66th-minute shot from just inside his own half that caught Joe Hart out of his goal. “It might be one of the best goals I’ve scored, I don’t know, but just as important was the clean sheet. I’m glad we put in a defensive performance as well, because its what David Unsworth deserved. He stepped in at a difficult time for the club, he’s an Everton man through and through and I’m delighted for him.”
Unsworth confirmed last night he will be returning to his role as under-23s coach after taking a few days off, and revealed he had met Allardyce for a brief chat at the training ground earlier in the afternoon. The former England manager is expected to be formally installed in the next 24 hours on an 18-month contract, and must have been as pleased as Unsworth with the spirit and commitment shown by a side that has recently been playing without cohesion or confidence.
“A clean sheet was fantastic because we defended well enough to deserve it,” Unsworth said. “The players’ attitude was spot on, they played without fear, like men. Let’s be honest, we have underperformed all season, we expect to be higher than we are, but there is a platform now and there was confidence there tonight.
“It’s been a tough six weeks, but moving from the bottom three to 13th is definitely a step in the right direction. It’s over to Sam now and obviously he has my full backing. He will need time and patience like any manager in a new situation, but hopefully tonight we have shown him he will have something to work with.”
No one did that better than Rooney, who while notionally a No10 actually performed in a much deeper role to great effect. “We had a chat and we both felt midfield might be the way to go,” Unsworth said. “It is probably a deeper role that will suit him best at this stage of his career. He’s got a wonderful football brain and he ran the game. His goal was just fantastic, he was probably the only player on the pitch capable of doing that with so little time to think about it. He knew what to do straight away and it was a goal from the moment it left his boot.”
David Moyes, making a miserable return to Everton as West Ham manager, said: “Our second-half performance was a lot better than our first, I wouldn’t have wanted to put my name to that. Wayne’s goal came just as we were having our best spell, but we needed small things to go our way and they didn’t. Of course I wish luck to whoever is in charge of Everton, but I wanted a performance from West Ham and I didn’t see one.”