Peter Cormack had been a Liverpool player for only a few months when he settled his first Merseyside derby. His goal with thirteen minutes remaining at Anfield on 7 October 1972 defeated Everton and kept Bill Shankly’s side at the top of the First Division.
The match was still goalless well into the second half. Cormack finally broke the deadlock in the seventy-seventh minute, with Steve Heighway supplying the assist. Liverpool held the lead to win 1–0 before a crowd of 55,975.
It was a narrower victory than their previous home league match, the 5–0 defeat of Sheffield United. Coming after a 2–1 success at Leeds, however, it completed three consecutive league wins and left Liverpool two points clear of Arsenal and Tottenham.
Emlyn Hughes captained the side, with Trevor Storton again in the starting eleven. Harry Catterick’s Everton included Howard Kendall, Colin Harvey and Joe Royle. Neither team had managed a first-half goal; the decisive contribution came from Liverpool’s newest midfield arrival.
Shankly had brought Cormack from Nottingham Forest that summer. His Liverpool debut, away to Derby County in September, had ended in defeat, but his first goal followed a week later against Wolverhampton Wanderers. By the time Everton visited, he had also scored in the five-goal win over Sheffield United.
The derby winner gave that promising start a particular distinction. Cormack was contributing goals immediately, and in a match which remained level for more than three-quarters of its duration, his contribution converted one point into two.
His first season would bring ten goals in 52 appearances across all competitions. Liverpool won the championship and the UEFA Cup, with Cormack playing throughout both legs of the European final.
Those honours still lay ahead in October. Here, the immediate reward was a derby victory and a strengthened league position: another significant afternoon in a newcomer’s rapid establishment at Anfield.