Debutant Beattie still short of full fitness, says Moyes
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Your support makes all the difference.David Moyes, the Everton manager, believes it could take until next season to get James Beattie up to full fitness after the £6m signing made his debut in the 3-1 win at Plymouth Argyle in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday.
Beattie, who has barely played since November, was substituted with 19 minutes remaining after making one goal, and being booked. Moyes said: "He is still short of the level we want him to be at. He's not totally unfit but I want him to be in a position where he can go hard for 90 minutes. Hopefully we will get that before the end of the season. If not, he will certainly get in during our pre-season work in time for next term."
The former Southampton striker helped create the first Everton goal for Leon Osman and was involved in the build-up for James McFadden's second. Bjarni Gudjonsson pulled one back for Plymouth before half-time but Nick Chadwick finished the Championship side off with Everton's third with six minutes to go.
Moyes' Bolton counterpart, Sam Allardyce, praised his controversial striker El Hadji Diouf after he came off the bench to inspire his side to a 3-1 win at Ipswich. The Senegal striker, who has just completed a suspension for spitting at Portsmouth's Arjan De Zeeuw, had a hand in two of Bolton's goals as the visitors overpowered the Championship leaders. He set up Stelios Giannakopoulos after an hour, before releasing Henrik Pedersen for a second five minutes later. Allardyce said: "He made a big contribution. He did not score but he laid on some very good openings. It was a big performance."
Portsmouth also saw off Championship opposition by beating Gillingham 1-0 at Fratton Park. Aiyegbeni Yakubu scored Pompey's winner early in the second half to leave his manager, Velimir Zajec, hoping that he can keep the highly rated Nigerian striker for at least the rest of the season.
"I think he's a big investment for the club and he is very important for the club," Zajec said, "but if the price is good the club comes first in our thinking. But we will not sell a player out of our price. We are not in that sort of a hurry."
Middlesbrough survived a scare by coming from behind to beat Notts County 2-1 at Meadow Lane. Tony Scully gave the League Two side the lead in the second minute but second-half goals from Doriva and Joseph-Desiré Job put Steve McClaren's team through.
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