Ian Snodin: Everton FC’s win over Manchester City was just what the club needed

Everton’s Nikica Jelavic (centre) celebrates scoring their second goal

THEY say a week in politics is a long time, well in sport seven days can feel like a lifetime. They certainly did at Goodison Park last week, didn’t they?

What a contrast, though. From utter devastation to sheer delight, Everton have put us all through the wringer of late. It has been an emotional rollercoaster.

The win over Manchester City was the perfect response to the hammering the club has had since the Wigan debacle. It was a tremendous performance, and one for which everyone involved deserves immense credit.

It doesn’t put right the wrongs of Wigan, and some fans will be entitled to wonder why such a performance arrived a week late, but if the players deserved every ounce of criticism that came their way last week, they deserve all the credit in the world this.

I’m just delighted for the players, for the staff but, most of all, for the supporters. They are the ones who really suffer, and boy did they suffer the previous week. Every Evertonian will have been sick as a parrot at missing out on the chance of a trip or two to Wembley, but they came in their thousands again on Saturday, and they deserved an afternoon to enjoy.

The atmosphere was electric, as good as it has been all season, and the players undoubtedly responded to that.

I think Marouane Fellaini’s tackle on James Milner, early on, set the tone. Everyone will have been looking at Felli, wondering how he would react. They won’t have been disappointed. It was probably the most welcome booking we have seen at Goodison in a while!