CADAMARTERI SHINES ONCE MORE
Cadamarteri, who has been away on loan at Fulham, was brought into the first team for what many viewed as a final chance at resurrecting his once-promising Everton career.
The 20-year-old forward used his pace to devastating effect down the right flank, and his understanding with marksman Kevin Campbell, who claimed a brace of goals, was the key part of Everton`s victory over a strangely subdued Wimbledon.
The game very nearly started with a farcical goal when Wimbledon keeper Neil Sullivan failed to cleanly claim a second-minute corner, and was millimetres away from pushing the ball over his own goal-line.
Minutes later Everton`s USA international Joe-Max Moore was unlucky to be denied a penalty when referee Graham Barber deemed a blatant obstruction fair.
After the early exchanges, the game quickly settled down into a gritty, scrappy and almost un-watchable midfield battle, with neither side shining in the final third of the pitch.
Cadamarteri quickly showed that he was desperate to stand-out and pinned back Wimbledon defender Alan Kimble into a much deeper role than he was used to.
The youngster almost created a breakthrough when his cross after 20 minutes found Moore deep in the Wimbledon box, only for the striker to steer his header wide of Sullivan`s goal.
Kevin Campbell then fired past Sullivan, after finding himself one-on-one latching onto a good through ball from Moore, but was denied the goal by an offside flag.
Wimbledon finally forged an attack of their own when Marcus Gayles` low cross into the box was cleared unconvincingly by Richard Gough, in the heart of the Everton defence, prompting a goal-mouth scramble and a desperate clearance for The Toffeemen.
But it was Cadmarteri who was guilty of the worse miss when he found himself unmarked on the penalty spot - only to send his header far to close to a grateful Sullivan.
The goal that turned the match finally came after 51 minutes when Cadamarteri, atoning for his first-half miss scampered down the wing and curled a lovely ball into the box.
Sullivan misjudged the flight in a gust of wind allowing Campbell to steal in front of him and head home for his 11th goal of the season.
The strike immediately looked to have won the match for The Toffemen as they watched a listless Wimbledon fail to respond to going behind - and only just clinging on to the match as wave-after-wave of Everton attacks washed over them.
However, just ten minutes later Everton doubled their advantage when, again, Cadamarteri found Campbell in the box with a cross from the right. The former Arsenal star had sprinted free of his marker to find himself alone just outside the six yard box and made no mistake in powering a header past a despairing Sullivan.
Two nil became three within two minutes when the move of the match saw Everton skipper Don Hutchison feed a perfect ball through to Campbell. The scorer turned provider and fed a beautiful square pass across the box to Joe-Max Moore who gleefully side-footed home the close range chance.
Wimbledon finally pulled themselves into the match and began to threaten the Everton half, if not their goal, but the game was all over bar the shouting and Walter Smith watched his Merseyside team not only take all three points and retain a good clean-sheet, but maybe re-discover the tantalising talent of man-of-the-match Cadamerteri.
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Patrick Goss
