THE heat of tomorrow's vital Goodison battle between Everton and Blackburn Rovers will be the equivalent of a walk in the park for David Unsworth after the turbulent summer experienced by the Chorley-born defender, writes PETER WHITE.

Unsworth, you may remember, is the man who had three clubs in almost as many weeks - beginning with West Ham, moving briefly to Aston Villa before finally finishing up at his beloved Everton.

And, in the course of his meandering around the Premiership, he was the butt of a torrent of jokes.

It wasn't so much a case of guess who's coming to dinner, as what time did his missus - apparently determined to return to the North West - demand he was home for it.

For everyone in the game seemed to be laughing at a player ridiculed as being under the thumb domestically and minus the most basic schooling in geography - ie being unaware that a number 10 bus from Lime Street did not pass Villa Park.

But Unsworth showed a lot of character to ignore the jibes, because he knew exactly what he wanted after mistakenly moving to Villa from West Ham.

That was a place in an Everton side he firmly believes can recapture past glories under Walter Smith.

Rovers were poor at Goodison last season and they will have to be much better tomorrow if they are to gain any reward from Smith's rejuvenated side. Everton are now unbeaten in the last five League and cup games, with Unsworth playing an important role on the left side of defence. Slammed by the likes of Villa boss John Gregory, he has clearly put the troubled summer behind him on returning to the club where his career began.

"The Evertonians have been fantastic towards me," he said.

"I've had a lot of people sending me letters, wishing me good luck and saying what I did was a difficult thing to do.

"But, as I said at the time, it all happened through my honesty and my will to play for Everton.

"It's nice when West Ham turn round and say they didn't want to lose me and I was fortunate to have two clubs, Aston Villa and Everton, come after me."

The Merseysiders have been in the Premiership doldrums in recent years, throughout the time that Unsworth was compiling more than 100 League appearances in his first Goodison stint.

But he believes a new era is at hand.

There are signs that Smith's new signings are beginning to gel as a team and Unsworth has no doubts he made the right decision to stick to his guns and force a return to Goodison.

"I'm just concentrating on being successful for Everton and I wouldn't have come back if I didn't think we would be successful," he said.

"It's a new regime under Walter and, in time, we'll get it right. I'm certainly enjoying it back at Everton - I've just slotted straight back into the team.

"I've certainly not come back for an easy ride."

Thoughts of an "easy ride" tomorrow will be the last thing on the minds of two teams who are both desperate to climb away from the Premiership's danger zone.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.