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Everton held by 10-man Swans

, 1 November, 0comments  |  Jump to most recent
Everton 0 - 0 Swansea City
Everton were held goalless for the first time this season as Swansea gutted out a draw at Goodison despite playing the final 20 minutes with 10 men following Jonjo Shelvey's second yellow card.

The Blues were dominant in the first half but created few clear-cut chances and went into half time level at 0-0. Samuel Eto'o, playing as an out-and-out striker in Romelu Lukuku's absence, had gone closest to breaking the deadlock but didn't get enough power on a shot in the first minute.

Aiden McGeady tested Lukas Fabianski with a low shot from 20 yards that the 'keeper spilled behind for a corner and Gareth Barry saw a decent effort from a similar distance caught.

Swansea, meanwhile, almost went ahead in the fifth minute but Wilfried Bony blasted narrowly wide when clean through and Antolin Alcaraz somehow escaped a penalty award against him when he handled Shelvey's shot in the area but referee Kevin Friend waved play on.

The Paraguayan, playing his third successive League game after seemingly surmounting his injury problems had to be withdrawn after just half an hour, though, with a shoulder injury that looks likely to sideline him for what his manager described as "a long time".

He was replaced by Muhamed Besic, with Gareth Barry dropping back to centre half but it was Phil Jagielka who was rolled by Bony early in the second half but Shelvey fired wide after the Ivorian had played him in.

Everton struggled to find any rhythm in the second period, even when Steven Pienaar and Lukaku had replaced McGeady and Steven Naismith with 23 minutes to go but they had a chance when a high clearance from a corner dropped towards Jagielka in the Swansea box but his header bounced onto the roof of the net.

A late push after Shelvey had been sent off for a cynical check on James McCarthy yielded little beyond a low drive from Leighton Baines that Lukaku couldn't get out of the way of, a wayward volley by Pienaar, and an injury-time cross from Eto'o that just eluded Lukaku who was, in any case, offside.

Roberto Martinez was as disappointed by the Swans' defensive-minded approach as he was with the draw.

"I'm pleased with the defensive work that we have done," he said, "but probably the sending-off didn't help because it got them even tighter and a little bit more defensive minded in the last period of the game which frustrated us a little bit and we didn't manage to get the win."

Quotes sourced from ToffeeWeb Match Reports


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