Fan Report: Everton 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur

At 2-0 to Tottenham, a side riding high on confidence and lying fourth in the League standings at the start of play, I would normally say, as I did when we played Hull a couple of Saturdays ago, that enough was enough and I have had enough. Normally we would be battling to create chances, we would be battling to pass the ball along the ground, and we would be battling to defend consistently. However, yesterday was different. It was odd, but even at 2-0 down, at home admittedly but to a top 4 side, I thought there was hope. Once or twice in that first half we had chances to score, Jo in particular was a culprit, and a young boy by the name of Coleman was putting in some spirited runs down the right hand side touchline. I have to admit I saw him against Benfica and was not impressed. I saw him against AEK and I thought, hang on a minute, he has improved. Yesterday I thought, hot stuff this boy. The first half could not have started worse for us as Joey left the field after 15 minutes, hamstrung by injury. Lucas Neil to centre back, Seamus to right back and I feared the worst. However, when Tony Hibbert only has to defend, as a centre back really has to do, his experience, know how and reading of the play is a sight to behold. True, the Matchstick and Midget combination did cause us problems, but a combination of Hibbert and Howard kept us level at the break. 

The second half did not start well. Baines lost his man on the Everton left, a cross was whipped in and Midget Man got in front of both of our Centre Backs to steer home. That did not stop us from bossing the next 10 minutes as we strived for that equaliser. Once again it was the Mustard Man to the fore, but either he’s crosses just eluded the player flying into the box, or it was a tad too high, a tad too low, you get the point. Then they scored again! Lucas Neil lost his man as the Dawson wiggled and waggled away from him to plant a simple header past Tim; cue bedlam from the away support, silence from the Goodison faithful as we contemplated another loss; but not this time because this time we had a young upstart who would not be silenced, a young man who would not give this game up; enter the Mustard Man. Well to be fair, King Louis, the Yak and Mustard Man. As you have read already in countless media reports, we scored one, then another, then another, then another…oh wait, those last two were in my head, we only scored two; but what A TWO they were, Coleman instrumental in both. A brilliant finish from a brilliant burst to the byline produced one, a cool and calculated low stopping header from our Captain produced anther and Goodison was rocking. Spurs were rattled as we surged forward in search of the winner. 

BUT as everything Everton do we have to have even more drama in time added on. Oh just a word about ref Mariner; a one eyed Jack performance to be sure. Every fifty-fifty challenge was a free kick to them [Fellaini, Rodwell, Cahill] and when their right back with the unpronounceable name rakes Timmy’s face with his studs, well…anyway we fought on. Two minutes into time added on Matchstick man nods the ball into space, the Funny Faced midfielder goes down like a ton of bricks under short, slim, lightweight Tony’s mild little shoulder nudge, and Mariner says penalty. While we waiting for the Palace man to be stretchered off to hospital, Moysie calls Saha over, says something in his ear, Louis races to Timmy and repeats it, and Timmy saves Midget Man’s penalty, no worries mate. We then actually had a chance to win in on the referees’ eighth and ninth minutes of optional time, but it was not to be. 

So 2-2 it ended, a pulsating, end to end match, which in the end could have gone either way, but ended in a draw; a word on Fellaini. He is starting to become the player Moyes saw when he bought him. He was extremely impressive, having added a yard of pace [actually three yards], impressive steel to his game, a better tackling technique and a definite fitness edge as well. He was brilliant yesterday. Coleman was the man of the match though; wow and that pace, damn!

So a good win against AEK and qualification for the knockout stages of the Europa League, coupled to a come from behind draw including a penalty save against Cock ‘n Hoop Spurs, plus Arteta, Jagielka, Neville, Anichebe slowly getting back to playing, has seen spirits lifted at Goodison; Long may it continue!

By Hadley Lakay