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Vic rescues a point from tight affair

Aston Villa 1 - 1 Everton

Aston Villa 1 - 1 Everton

Everton grabbed a point from an untidy encounter between two nervy teams thanks to Anichebe's second-half strike. The substitute latched onto Donovan's defence-splitting pass and slotted past Given to cancel out Bent's earlier goal. Gibson made a quiet but effective debut in a Blues side that had the upper hand in the first half but again lacked bite going forward and in the end neither side seemed all that convinced they could win this low-key affair.

Four years since the kopite Mark Clattenburg had refereed an Everton game... Shane Duffy made his first League start as Sylvain Distin is ruled out, while Darron Gibson made his debut after arriving from Manchester United.

Gibson showed early, giving away a free-kick, and his first possession at the other end was greeted with a chorus of "Shhoooot!" from the travelling Blues.

Heitinga got a stern talking too and was lucky not to be booked for a professional clip on Bent and from the free-kick, Petrov really tested Howard with a pie-driver.

A fantastic forward pass from Gibson was perfect for Cahill but his lack of confidence lost him the chance before it really arrived as he totally failed to master the ball.

The defence was getting tested, mostly by mistakes by Drenthe but Duffy cleared solidly when required and the absence of Jagielka meant that they were playing it forward on the ground, but Donovan was getting little support on the right wing.

A superb free-kick from Baines was met perfectly by a Saha header, forcing a good save from Given but Villa cleared the dangerous rebound.

Great pace from Donovan anda fantastic cross that Saha should surely have converted but he allowed pressure from Hutton to hold his arm, yet no complaint from Saha, who could have got a penalty if he had gone down instead of ending up in the net,

Everton's inability to score from numerous guilt-edged chances was underlined by a fierce header from Warnock of all people forced a brilliant reaction save from Given!

Next with a chance was Baines, but from the free-kick he fired over as the Villians became increasingly concerned with the virtual one-way traffic from their illustrious visitors.

Drenthe redeemed himself with a vital clearance for the first corner, that set up Collins with a free header which he sent well over the bar. Fellaini became the first booking by Clattenburg and he was not happy about it.

Another good run and cross by Donovan won a corner but Drenthe's corner was delivered too hard and low.

Everton faded and Villa recovered a little, Agbonlahor forcing another stretching save from Howard. Everton ahead on points at the break, but frustratingly no goals to show for it.

The game was summed up by turgid stuff at after the break, Villa making 20 passes along the half-way line while Everton stood of them and failed to make a single challenge. Everton did surge forward and Drenthe won a dubious free-kick that Fellaini powered in at the far post only to see it hit Given's upper arm.

At the other end Villa somehow failed to score when Howard failed to deal with a corner and was lucky when the follow up found him in a crowded goalmouth.

After some pressure, Everton seemed tpo gift the first goal to Villa, three defenders unable to clear allowing the cross that enabled Bent to scoop the ball into the net, all-too-familiar story... a poor goal to give away.

Drenthe, who had been mostly very poor, was switched out for Anichebe on the hour. Gibson got unfairly penalized for a none-foul when Ireland's leap convinced the linesman it must have been a foul.

A superb piece of play from Donovan picked out the run of Anichebe through the middle and Nigerian scored cleanly to put the Blues back in it within 8 mins of coming on. But then Anichebe twisted his knee trying to stop a throw-in, and had everyone fearing it was another serious injury as he needed lots of attention on the sideline, eventually clambering to his feet after being persuaded there was no permanent damage.

With everything to play for, both sides seemed to settle for the draw, McLeish finally making a move, bringing on Keane,; Moyes's response was to remove Gibson, who had faded badly, apparently through lack of playing time, bringing on Bilyaletdinov.

Donovan again played in Anichebe but his effort lacked conviction, and no-one could put the ball in from amidst a crazy goalmouth pinball session that followed the corner. With 2 mins left, the Moyes masterstroke was to bring on Stracqualursi for Saha after another useless goalless game.

Stracqualursi won a free-kick some distance out that annoyingly required both Donovan and Baines to execute, with Cahill making a lame shot at the end that was hopelessly off-target as another dismal display in the poptastic Premier League dragged to another desperately dull conclusion. And they wonder why the crowds are dwindling... The only 'sabotage' going on here, Mr Elstone, is to the game of football.

Everton: Howard, Neville, Heitinga, Duffy, Baines, Donovan, Gibson (84' Bilyaletdinov), Fellaini (Y:35'), Drenthe (60' Anichebe), Cahill, Saha (88' Stracqualursi).
Subs: Mucha, McFadden, Gueye, Vellios.

Quotes or other material sourced from ToffeeWeb Match Report Page

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