Everton marched into the last 16 of the Uefa Cup in style as Yakubu hit a hat-trick in a 6-1 win over SK Brann.
Nigerian striker hits hat-trick in emphatic win
Everton marched into the last 16 of the Uefa Cup in style as Yakubu hit a hat-trick in a 6-1 win over SK Brann.
The Toffees led 2-0 from the first leg and made a sluggish start but that was soon forgotten as Yakubu and Andrew Johnson scored two in six minutes at the end of the first half.
Yakubu struck his second nine minutes after the restart, and although Peter Vaagan Moen's 60th-minute free-kick gave the Norwegian champions a consolation, Everton finished with a flourish.
Mikel Arteta made it four in the 70th minute before Yakubu claimed his treble and Johnson capped a memorable European night at Goodison with a stunning strike in stoppage time.
David Moyes made the right noises beforehand about taking this second leg seriously and not taking chances, but certainly in the opening spell his words did not appear to have registered with his team.
Initially Everton's defending was sloppy, their passing poor, and it gave Brann the incentive to go forward - encouraging their 2,000 noisy fans.
Njugo Demba-Nyren almost broke through in the seventh minute, with Lee Carsley's debatable challenge infuriating coach Mons Ivar Mjelde on the line.
Then Erlend Hanstveit forced Tim Howard into a save at the foot of his post as the hosts struggled early on.
With Brann captain Eirik Bakke, once of Leeds, chasing around midfield, the visitors were clearly not going down without a fight.
Everton needed something to take the steam out of Bergen, but when their best early chance arrived Johnson was not quick enough to react in the box to a neat build-up between Phil Neville and Yakubu, and the chance was lost.
Yak opener
But Yakubu settled Everton's nerves when he curled home from 15 yards after Tim Cahill had created the chance.
Four minutes from the break the tie was all over when Johnson took a pass from Arteta, turned away from Hanstveit and drilled a low shot inside the far post.
Everton replaced Cahill and Carsley with Manuel Fernandes and Tony Hibbert at the break, and seconds after the restart Neville's ball sent Johnson through to hit the post.
It was 3-0 in the 54th minute when Pienaar found Yakubu, whose sidestep wrong-footed two defenders and enabled him to place a 12-yard effort inside Hakon Opdal's left-hand post.
Brann deserved something for their efforts, and it came on the hour when Moen sent in a low free-kick from 25 yards that Phil Jagielka could have cleared - but he allowed the ball past him and Howard reacted too late to stop it going in.
But Everton kept coming forward and they grabbed their fourth goal in the 71st minute when Arteta's 20-yarder clipped Karadas, wrong-footed Opdal and went in off a post.
A minute later Yakubu completed his hat-trick when Pienaar's cross found him on the far post for an easy tap-in - and before the restart he was replaced by Victor Anichebe.
And Johnson completed the scoring in injury-time when he crashed home his second goal from 25 yards.
| Everton |
Team Statistics |
Brann |
| 6 |
Goals |
1 |
| 2 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 8 |
Shots on Target |
4 |
| 5 |
Shots off Target |
6 |
| 1 |
Blocked Shots |
2 |
| 2 |
Corners |
7 |
| 17 |
Fouls |
14 |
| 2 |
Offsides |
1 |
| 1 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 80.7 |
Passing Success |
72.1 |
| 15 |
Tackles |
22 |
| 86.7 |
Tackles Success |
59.1 |
| 55.5 |
Possession |
44.5 |
| 53.7 |
Territorial Advantage |
46.3 |
|
