Players like Sunday Oliseh, Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Finidi George were excluded for personal reasons.
The incident sparked the game into life and Kirkland was forced to plunge at Yakubu's feet.
McClaren went for broke after 69 minutes, when the injured Franck Queudrue was replaced by Yakubu.
At one stage David Moyes had no recognised senior strikers to select as alongside Yakubu.
Also on the Fans Forum agenda was the sale of influential striker Yakubu to Everton in August.
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With Villa on the back foot, Middlesbrough continued to create openings with Yakubu their tormentor in chief.
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"What I said was a light-hearted quip after Yakubu had scored a memorable hat-trick against Bergen, " he said.
The visitors had been denied the lead when Yakubu's shot was cleared off the line by Liam Ridgewell.
Yakubu latched on to a Diniyar Bilyaletdinov pass and curled in a shot to put Everton in front.
Schwarzer then produced another superb save to push away Yakubu's diagonal shot and Chris Baird cleared the ball.
It was left to Yakubu to level from Mikel Arteta's free-kick, extending both sides' unbeaten run to five games.
Yakubu smashed a shot against the bar and as Downing collected the rebound, he was bundled over in the box.
Yakubu headed in Arteta's cross after 64 minutes before Roque Santa Cruz slid in from close range two minutes later.
For his own part Yakubu says he is now ready to play a full part in the Blues pre-season training regime.
Osman then missed Everton's best chance when he failed to control Yakubu's header with only James between him and the opening goal.
However, with Yakubu and Jason Euell struggling to form a cohesive partnership up front, the visitors were always looking to pick up scraps.
From a corner soon afterwards, Luisao climed above his marker Yakubu with a well-timed leap, only to put his header over the bar.
Third-choice Brad Jones came on to face the resulting penalty and was immediately a hero as he saved from Ayegbeni Yakubu's weak effort.
Yakubu, who had been having a quiet afternoon, almost restored Everton's lead with a stunning 30-yard drive that whistled inched wide with Reina beaten.
"It's unbelievable to have a team with no normal strikers, doing so well finishing fifth and getting to the FA Cup final, " said Yakubu.
Henry and Ljungberg then each scored a second goal, before Ayegbeni Yakubu and Matthew Taylor rattled the woodwork and Teddy Sheringham's flick found the net.
Yakubu , who was devastated to suffer a season-ending injury was not the only forward on the treatment table at Finch farm as the season went on.
Yakubu set Arteta free on the left flank, then raced to the far post to get on the end of a perfect cross and head beyond Robinson.
Yakubu was also making his presence felt for Everton and he combined well with Osman, who produced a clever turn but sent a strike high and wide.
Yakubu was making his first start for Everton since rupturing his Achilles in November 2008 and celebrated by scoring with the first meaningful attack of the match.
Moments later, the Squirrels were left off the hook after the goalkeeper clashed with his centre-back Adenon leaving the ball to sprawl but Yakubu failed to take advantage.
The visitors had a gilt-edged chance to punish the miss when a slip by Birmingham centre-back Johnson allowed Everton forward Yakubu a strike at goal from 10 yards.
As Boro regrouped United were indebted to some brave defensive play from Wes Brown, who first tackled Yakubu and then came across to block Stewart Downing's attempted cross.
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Less than 60 seconds later, however, Everton went up field, Tim Cahill's neat back-flick found Yakubu and the former Middlesbrough striker's curling shot beat the hapless Hakon Opdal.
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Brought down by Tinashe Nengomasha, who was unable to cope with the midfielder's trickery in the box, earned the Nigerians a penalty that was subsequently converted by Yakubu Ayegbeni.
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