Burnley boss Owen Coyle felt James Vaughan's goal should have been
ruled out for offside in Everton's 2-0 win over his side at
Goodison Park.
Vaughan, making only his third substitutes' appearance of
another injury hit season, struck Everton ahead from close range
with eight minutes left.
But it looked as if Yakubu was standing in an offside
position in front of Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen, blocking the
Dane's view of the play.
Steven Pienaar grabbed a second for Everton in injury-time,
but Coyle claims the damage had already been done. He said: "Yakubu
was definitely offside in front of Jensen, he is a big lad and our
keeper could not see the play. Jensen stuck out a foot, but Yakubu
was clearly interfering with play.
"Howard Webb is a good referee and he was in no position to
see it, but he should expect to get assistance from his linesman,
who could surely see where the Everton player was standing when the
ball went into the net.
"It influenced the game. I just want fair decisions and that
was not fair." Burnley had already lost defender Stephen Jordan
with 30 minutes left, sent-off after a second bookable offence.
Coyle added: "He will learn from that, he made the referee's
decision for him with already having been booked.
"He will learn that in that situation you do not pull someone
back, you let it go and don't get yourself booked again."
Everton boss David Moyes hailed the return of 21 year-old
Vaughan to the side for his first goal in two years. Vaughan has
suffered serious knee and shoulder injuries over the recent
seasons, and had not scored since a UEFA Cup tie in December 2007
against Alkmaar. His last league goal was against Chelsea in May of
that year.
Moyes said: "I am really pleased for James. He has had a
terrible time with injuries for more than two years now.
"This time he has come back without even a reserve run-out.
He has missed so much of his development, we are just trying to
nurse him through to get him back to what he was like as an
outstanding teenager."
Everton have injury problems over Tim Cahill, who limped off
with a twisted ankle while Louis Saha (hamstring) and Jo (ankle),
both missed the match. But club captain Phil Neville returned after
missing three months with a knee injury, and Moyes said: "We have
certainly missed him, he is a very important player for us, it is
good to have him back."
On Everton's first win in eight league games, Moyes said: "We
have been playing well enough of late to have deserved more.
"We deserved this, we had played some smashing football at
times and I always believed our luck would change."
