James Vaughan launched himself into the record books 15 years ago today – and the striker has been reflecting on the afternoon he marked his Everton debut with a goal which lifted the roof off Goodison Park as part of our In Their Own Words feature.
Academy graduate Vaughan was 16 years and 270 days old when he was named on the bench for a vital Premier League home meeting with Crystal Palace on 10 April 2005.
He sensed his first senior appearance was imminent when Tim Cahill scored his second goal of the game to put the Blues 3-0 in front and all-but wrap up the points to give Everton the advantage in their battle with Liverpool for the league's final Champions League spot.
The forward tells us about the day through his eyes, from seeing the technically prodigious Mikel Arteta bend in a free-kick for the Spaniard’s first Everton goal, through two trademark Cahill efforts.
And onto Vaughan being told by manager David Moyes to ready himself for action and the indescribable explosion of joy when he prodded the ball past goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly 13 minutes after coming on to complete Everton's 4-0 win.
In that instant, Vaughan usurped Wayne Rooney as Everton’s youngest scorer and jumped over James Milner as the youngest player to hit the net in the Premier League.
Watch Vaughan recall a momentous day in his life and Everton's swashbuckling victory by clicking on the video above or here.
Also, Howard Kendall steered Everton to a terrific result in West Germany ON THIS DAY in 1985. The Toffees had been given a tough European Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final draw against Bayern Munich with the first leg in Germany.
Everton, who had an FA Cup semi-final against Luton Town just three days later, were without the injured Kevin Sheedy and Andy Gray, but once again Alan Harper and Kevin Richardson proved more than able deputies.
Kendall got his tactics spot on and the game ended goalless. The biggest scare came early on when Richardson cleared an effort from Michael Rummenigge off the line. By and large, though, Neville Southall was well protected and the 0-0 draw left the tie nicely poised for the return leg at Goodison.
Everton were involved in another piece of English football history ON THIS DAY way back in 1897.
The Blues reached the FA Cup final and were up against Aston Villa at the Crystal Palace. It turned out to be a five-goal thriller with, unusually, all the goals coming in the first half.
Villa took the lead but goals from John Bell and Dickie Boyle edged Everton in front, only for the Midlanders to hit back and take a 3-2 lead into the break.
There were no further goals and Villa lifted the Cup on the day when results in the First Division meant that they were also confirmed as Champions.
They remain, and probably will always be, the only team to ever complete the League and FA Cup double on the same day.
