SO just how good was Neville Southall? The answer is, in his prime – by popular consensus during the late 1980s to early 90s – good enough to win a match against any opposition on his own!

Proof comes from the first time Everton visited Cheltenham Town’s Whaddon Road ground – a venue they return to on Monday evening in the FA Cup.

Everton have never met The Robins in a competitive fixture. But they did go to the Gloucestershire spa town in 1990 for a testimonial match.

Big Nev switched sides for the night – and with him in goal the Conference club upstaged an Everton team containing internationals like Dave Watson, Norman Whiteside and Tony Cottee 1-0!

It was a joint testimonial match for Nick Jordan and Ray Baverstock in April 1990 – and the clash was arranged by then Robins’ boss Jim Barron, who had been goalkeeping coach at Everton and worked closely with Southall.

Cheltenham left-back that night, Kevin Willetts, described Southall’s performance as “incredible.”

He explained: “He strolled into the dressing room before the game and said ‘we’ll win this tonight if we score, because nothing’s getting past me' – and he was right!

“He took central defender Anton Vircavs, who was dominant in the air, to one side and told him to stay out of his way because he'd come and catch everything.

“It was virtually Everton’s first team against Cheltenham Town so as to be expected they had a few shots, but Southall made it look easy and it was an unbelievable experience to see just how good he was.

“Everton’s manager, Colin Harvey, had them straight on the bus after the game as he wasn't happy they'd lost and I am sure Yatesey (current Cheltenham boss Mark Yates) would settle for the same result for Cheltenham next week!”

With Southall making the art of goalkeeping look easy, Cheltenham won a well contested match 1-0 courtesy of substitute Simon Brain's second-half strike, which stemmed from a long clearance from the Goodison legend.

CHELTENHAM TOWN: Southall; Whelan, Williams, Baverstock, Vircavs, Willetts, Burns, Boyland, Jordan, Buckland, Crowley. Subs: Nuttell, Purdie, Brain, Crouch.

EVERTON: Kearton; Atteveld, M Wright, Watson, Lyons, Whiteside, P Jones, Ebbrell, Powell, Cottee, Power. Subs: Ebdon, N Moore, Reilly.

Ref: R McBeth. Att: 3,050.