After 14 years in the wilderness, Everton’s trip to Highbury on April 14, 1984, was the day that brought belief to Blues fans that the glory days were heading back to Goodison Park. As football matches go, the scruffy 1-0 victory over Southampton with the only goal in two hours of play coming four minutes from the end of extra time was not a classic but for many Evertonians of a certain vintage, the game remains one of their most-treasured memories.
Gavin Buckland, Everton’s official statistician and a regular guest on the ECHO’s Royal Blue podcast, recalls the winning goal in his recently-published book Boys From The Blue Stuff: Everton’s Rise To 1980s Glory in which he points out that one fan among the mass of Everton supporters on the North Bank is clearly shown making the sign of the cross and looking to the heavens for divine inspiration before Peter Reid took his free-kick. Relaying Clive Tyldesley’s commentary on Radio City at the time, he writes: “A free-kick. On the byline. Reid takes it. Mountfield. HEATH! HE’S SCORED! ADRIAN HEATH HAS SCORED FOR EVERTON! A pitch invasion… memorable scenes… as the Everton fans stream out to congratulate Adrian Heath, because with just four minutes of extra time to go he has scored the goal which will take them back to Wembley and an FA Cup final for the first time since 1968. Surely that’s going to be enough!”
Indeed, the goal seemed like a pivotal moment for Everton when it came to turning the tide. At the time of their last major trophy, the League Championship in 1970, they were level with Manchester United and Liverpool when it came to winning the most titles (seven apiece, Arsenal would make it a four-way tie for top spot the following year) but in the intervening fallow period their rivals from across Stanley Park had gone into a silverware overdrive, and by the end of the 1983/84 season they’d captured a further eight League Championships – more than they’d secured over the previous 80 years; an FA Cup; four consecutive League Cups plus honours on the continental stage in the shape of four European Cups and two UEFA Cups.
