Cahill haunts Advocaat

Qantas Socceroo midfielder Tim Cahill has come back to haunt Dutch coach Dick Advocaat, scoring a late winner to earn Everton a 1-0 home win against Zenit St Petersburg.

Qantas Socceroo midfielder Tim Cahill has come back to haunt Dutch coach Dick Advocaat, scoring a late winner to earn Everton a 1-0 home win against Zenit St Petersburg.

Advocaat, who recently decided against taking over the Australian national team in favour of a big money offer to stay at Zenit, watched as his team failed to hold against Everton, with Cahill clinching the win with five minutes to go.

Zenit's, who were only just crowned Russian champions and sparked Advocaat's backflip on the Australian job, UEFA Cup fate is now out of their hands and must now rely on the results going their way in the last group matches to be played on December 20.

However there is no such problems for Cahill and Everton, who are guaranteed top spot of Group A, after Michael Beauchamp-s FC Nurnberg did them a favour and beat AZ Alkmaar. This means that Everton will avoid those teams that come down from the Champions League in the next round knock-out phase.

Cahill, who was a constant thorn to the Zenit defence, continued his remarkable knack of being in the right place at the right time, pouncing on a spilt save by the Zenit keeper to score from less than a metre out.

In the other group game, Beauchamp played a full game, as Nurnberg scored twice in the last ten minutes to come from behind and beat Alkmaar 2-1. The result means that a win against Larissa, will guarantee them a place in the next round.

Scott Chipperfield was again absent from the FC Basel side that won 1-0 at home against SK Brann and secured their place in the next round. A win over leader Hamburg SV in the final game will see them finish in the crucial top spot.

The only other Australian to feature overnight, albeit on the bench only, was FC Copenhagen-s Nathan Coe, who lost 2-0 at home against Atletico Madrid. They remain in third place and face a crunch match away against bottom side Aberdeen.

Meanwhile, Qantas Socceroo striker Mark Viduka came off the bench for Newcastle United, as they held runaway leader Arsenal to a 1-1 draw at St James Park.