Season › 2011-12 › News

Anichebe rescues sorry display

Wigan Athletic 1 - 1 Everton

With just one defeat in their last six games on Wigan's home turf, recent history is on Everton's side as they look to build on the momentum gained from the wins over Aston Villa Fulham and Manchester City, not to mention the arrival of Jelavić and Pienaar. Sylvain Distin was back in with Jack Rodwell still unavailable as he recovers from hamstring strains, while Tim Cahill retains his place and was named as captain despite no more goals. Pienaar was clearly well happy to be back with Everton where he belongs and set about putting some pace back into the left flank, getting well involved and putting in a lovely throughball for Stracqualursi but he was offside.

Pienaar again did well to set up Cahill with a smart ball into the middle but Cahill's supposed shot was hopelessly high and wide. Bosejour got down the Everrton right and swung in a couple of good crosses. Stracqualursi at least got his first shot on target but it was only a weak prod after good work by Donovan.

Stracq's control and ball play was disappointing and Wigan got Beausejour in around Hibbert yet again, and he was having trouble staying on his feet as Everton started to look the better team but showed less likelihood of getting close to the Wigan goal, as a Di Santo mis-hit forced a desperate save from Howard. That gave Wigan more confidence and they won the first corner on 22 mins.

Fellaini was doing a good job breaking up the play but his distribution was very lacking at times, which was not like him. Heitinga gifted Wigan a dangerous free-kick that Gomez lofted over wall and bar. Pienaar won Everton's first corner that Heitinga got a head on but Pienaar skied his shot poorly to finish the move.

A Baines free-kick somehow came in behind Everton's three tall players and Heitinga should probably have done a lot better with the follow-up as the sleet came down in sheets. Gibson was having something of a nightmare, making a poor pass, and the Wigan move forced a great goal-saving block by Hibbert.

With Everton looking increasingly out of sorts, a better set-up by Baines for Gibson was completely wasted as Everton finished a less-than-inspiring first half rather lamely with nothing to show.

Neville rather than Jelavic replaced Cahill, who had taken a knock, with Fellaini playing further forward instead. As the required hour-mark approached with nothing of note to report from an increasingly poor game of football, Moyes finally readied his new acquisition for his Premier League debut. Gibson finally got one on target but it was very weak, as Jelavic finally replaced Stracqualursi but bizarrely dummied a golden chance to put Everton ahead.

At least his arrival briefly livened up the game, but the quality was still shockingly poor in so many areas, real bottom-of-the-table stuff as Everton lowered their standards to Wigan's level, as Martinez bought on Rodallega and Jones. Most of the time, it was like watching pinball, with any continuity in possession lost to a random ricochets.

And that was a perfect set-up for the most attrocious goal Howard has ever let in, the spin of the ball from a defelction off Neville bouncing in front of him and turning in nicely off his leg stump! Unbelievable!

The absolute rubbish continued with Everton players called offside again and again, while Moyes made his final play, Anichebe in place of Hibbert. Baines finally won only Everton's second corner, then taking their third, which was headed back to him, with Baines having time to deliver a perfect cross for Anichebe to head cleanly into the Wigan goal — the first piece of crisp Premier League football in the entire dreadful second half.

Figueroa held back Jelavic, giving Everton a great free-kick opportunity that Baines curled harmlessly over. Four minutes of added time saw Wigan win a corner that Howard punched poorly into a crowded goalmouth and Everton were lucky to escape further punishment. Pretty poor fare overall.

Everton: Howard, Hibbert (83' Anichebe), Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Pienaar, Fellaini, Gibson, Donovan, Cahill (46' Neville), Stracqualursi (60' Jelavic). Subs: Mucha, Drenthe, Gueye, Duffy.

Quotes or other material sourced from ToffeeWeb Match Report Page

• Full match report
• Match summary and discussion

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