US International Tim Howard has broken the standard set by the man who was Everton’s goal keeping legend of the past, Welshman Neville Southall.

With Howard making his 100th appearance for the club this past weekend during Everton’s 3 - 1 win at West Ham and only 99 goals conceded, the Americans’ statistics better the record set by Southall during his time from 1981 - 1998 when he made over 575 appearances for the Toffees and was considered among the best in the world.

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If you’ve ever wanted to hear Tim Howard’s views on his former team Manchester United and their success as of late, then Mattias Karen’s article is something you’re going to want to check out.

I’ve known Tim now for over 10 years and I can honestly say that he’s the same person now that he was with the US U-18 squad down at the Olympic Training Center outside San Diego in 1997.

It’s great to see good guys make it at the highest level.

So imagine you’re the referee.

You’ve given a free kick at the top of the box with only 7 minutes left in the match.  The visitors (in this case Everton) are up 1-nil and if the result stays that way, Everton will be level with Liverpool.

As the Birmingham player Mauro Zarate (on loan from Al Sadd of Qatar) lines up to take the free kick, you notice another Birmingham player (defender Radhi Jaidi) jumping up and down behind the Everton wall, making faces and ultimately trying to distract Everton keeper Tim Howard.

Jaidi is really doing nothing wrong other than looking a fool and standing in the sight line of Howard, but as Zarate takes his set piece (which was a thing of beauty and to be honest, I’m not sure if Howard would have gotten to it anyways) Jaidi is interfering with the keeper, while he’s not technically interfering with the keeper.

What would you have called? Foul?  Unsportsmanlike conduct?  Interfering with the keeper?  Or would you have let the goal stand as is?

Referee Steve Bennett let the goal stand, drawing Birmingham level with Everton for a 1-1 result.

image via SkySports