LAST summer Tony Hibbert took a break from a gruelling pre-season workout in Austria to talk through the closest he’s ever come to scoring a goal.

“The closest I’ve come was in derby matches,” he smiled.

“One fell to me on the edge of the penalty area and I didn’t half catch it sweet. It went straight at Pepe Reina but if I’d slightly miss-hit it, maybe shanked it, it would have flown in either side of him.

“Then there was a header at Goodison against Liverpool. I’d come on as a sub and when I connected I thought ‘this is going in!’

“But it wasn’t to be.

“I’m obviously saving it up for a derby match!”

If he’s saved it up for tomorrow, this most honest and likeable of Evertonians will go down in Goodison folklore forever.