Everton earn a draw to keep Luton in relegation danger

Luton 1 - 1 Everton

Everton had to be content with a point from their travels to Kenilworth Road after Elijah Adebayo cancelled out Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s penalty and the game ended all square.

Luton came into the game desperate for all three points in their bid to avoid demotion straight back to the Championship and, after Thomas Kaminski had kept them in the game with two excellent saves, the Hatter might have nicked a win had Jack Harrison and Jarrad Branthwaite not made key defensive interventions in stoppage time.

Everton made the trip south safe in the knowledge that their Premier League safety was already assured thanks to three wins in three last week and that relative comfort was evident in the greater freedom in their play but they generally lacked quality in the final third in what was an occasionally scrappy contest refereed with inconsistency by Tim Robinson.

The Toffees might have had two other penalties beyond the one the referee did award after viewing the pitch-side monitor on the advice of Video Assistant Referee, David Coote, while the officials were subjected to a torrent of abuse from home fans around the tunnel as they left the field at the final whistle.

With Calvert-Lewin fit again after a bout of gastroenteritis and a minor knee issue, the striker led the line from the start with the returning Beto on the bench and James Tarkowski captained the side despite not training during the week due to the birth of his child.

The contest began as it would largely continue, keenly fought and even but after half-hearted appeals for a spot-kick at one end when Tahith Chong made a meal of minimal contact from Jordan Pickford, Everton had a stronger claim waved away after a quarter of an hour when Teden Mengi appeared to trip Dwight McNeil in the hosts’ penalty area.

Three minutes later, a free-kick for the visitors ended with Mengi almost toeing McNeil’s fizzed cross into his own net and, from the resulting corner, James Garner’s goal-bound shot was repelled by a defender.

A few minutes after that, however, the Blues were awarded a penalty when Jarrad Branthwaite was visibly held back and almost bear-hugged to the floor by Mengi and Coote directed Robinson to the screen to penalise the foul.

Calvert-Lewin took responsibility from 12 yards and drilled his kick down the middle, with Kaminski getting a foot to it but unable to alter its trajectory to the back of the net and prevent the Everton man scoring a fourth goal in his last five games.

The Blues' lead last just seven minutes, though. Ashley Young found himself in a hopeless physical mis-match as Alfie Doughty lofted a deep diagonal into the box and the striker muscled the veteran defender out of the way before smashing a shot across Pickford and into the far corner to make it 1-1 with half an hour gone.

Harrison cut in off the right flank and curled a shot narrowly wide five minutes before the end of the regulation first 45 while Luton went close themselves in the six minutes added on for stoppages when Carlton Morris whipped a shot inches wide of the upright after Doughty had failed to trouble Pickford with a volley.

The pattern of the game was little changed after the break, although after Gabriel Osho had bent a shot just wide and Mengi headed over from a free-kick, Sean Dyche went uncharacteristically early to his bench when he withdrew Garner, who had been on a yellow card since a harsh censure in only the ninth minute, and the ineffective Abdoulaye Doucouré in favour of André Gomes and Amadou Onana.

Seamus Coleman replaced Young in a change midway through the second period and the Toffees almost regained the lead shortly afterwards. Harrison managed to set himself under pressure to get a shot off on the edge the box that took a heavy deflection but Kaminski flew across his goal to bat it out of the top corner for a corner.

Then, 13 minutes from the 90 the Hatters’ keeper was called upon again to make another excellent save, this time to palm Calvert-Lewin’s strong header over after McNeil had headed Harrison’s cross invitingly back across the six-yard box.

DCL was withdrawn alongside Gueye three minutes later to give Beto and Youssef Chermiti a run-out but while the former Portuguese might have won a penalty himself had he tried to stay on his feet as Osho pulled him back, the closing stages were increasingly about a desperate Luton trying to find a precious winner.

Mengi’s daisy-cutter was comfortably gathered by Pickford in the fifth minute of time added on, though, and Luke Berry almost scored a dramatic over-head kick but found Harrison in his way to block the shot behind.

Then, after the otherwise lively and impressive Chermiti conceded a needless free-kick in a dangerous area near his his own box, the ball fell to substitute Andros Townsend to fire a low shot that was searching out the bottom corner until Branthwaite stuck a crucial leg out to divert it wide.

In pushing to have this game moved to a Friday night, Sky Sports no doubt felt they had teed up for their viewers a potential relegation “six-pointer” but, ultimately, they got a decent enough game that was low on quality and which lacked what the neutrals might have wanted in the form of a Luton win that would have kept alive their hopes of beating the drop.

For Everton and their travelling fans, it was just nice to have a game that lacked any jeopardy or urgency — which is probably just well because those last 10 to 15 minutes would have been incredibly nervy had Dyche’s men needed to get anything from the game – and to have avoided an unwanted hat-trick of defeats to Rob Edwards's men this season.

Thoughts now turn to the final home game against already-relegated Sheffield United next weekend when the Blues will look to consolidate their hold on 15th place.

 

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