McNeil stars as Everton hold their nerve to finally win

Everton 2 - 1 Palace

Everton registered their first Premier League victory of the season at the sixth time of asking thanks to a fabulous brace by Dwight McNeil that turned this match on its head and transformed the mood inside Goodison Park.

The home faithful had been restless at the halfway stage with their side trailing to Crystal Palace following another poorly-defended goal and no real sign they might find a breakthrough at the other end.

However, McNeil took the game by the scruff of the neck with two goals inside 10 minutes of the restart, the first a peach of a strike from 25 yards, and the Blues successfully kept the Eagles at bay to hand Sean Dyche a first in his time at Everton — his team coming from behind to win a match under his stewardship.

Palace were able to take the sting out of any fast start by Everton with some controlled possession in the early going and they largely prevented the hosts from getting into any kind of rhythm.

Abdoulaye Doucouré, deployed alongside Orel Mangala for a second game, had already been guilty of some sloppy distribution in the middle before he unnecessarily bundled Eberechi Eze over just outside the box.

The England winger fired the resulting free-kick into the wall, Adam Wharton’s follow-up was deflected wide and after the corner was initially cleared, the visitors went ahead, capitalising on more weak defending.

Wharton scooped a cross to the far post where Lacroix out-jumped Doucouré and Guehi reacted fastest to poke it over the line.

With Dyche bellowing instructions from the touchline, Everton tried to respond and they had a series of "nearly” moments in the Palace box without ever testing Dean Henderson.

James Tarkowski’s header back across goal from a set-piece almost found Dominic Calvert-Lewin and when the defender met a second free-kick immediately afterwards with his head, it took a crucial deflection off Guehi and behind.

The returning Vitalii Mykolenko had a low shot comfortably saved from 25 yards but the Blues’ best chance of the half came when McNeil drove an excellent cross to the near post but Calvert-Lewin failed to get any contact on it as it skidded across the face of goal.

Back at the other end, Oliver Glasner’s side almost profited from a carbon copy of their goal when Daniel Munoz rose highest at the back post but Iliman Ndiaye was able to smuggle the ball behind.

From the corner, Eddie Nketiah’s curling effort was blocked superbly by a Tarkowski header but Jordan Pickford was fortunate that as the looping ball spun goal-wards inside the six-yard box that it hit him rather than bouncing into the net.

Palace remained the likelier team to add to the scoreline as Everton struggled to make headway and Maxence Lacroix might have done better when he popped up behind Mykolenko but failed to meet a cross while Wharton tested Pickford again with an accurate volley just before the interval.

The need for Dyche to make a change at the halfway point was obvious and he acted, withdrawing Jesper Lindstrøm who had had an increasingly awful first 45 minutes and introducing Jack Harrison off the bench.

And within two minutes, the Toffees were level. A loose pass by Lacroix was intercepted smartly by Ashley Young who used Harrison’s run as a decoy and slipped the ball inside to McNeil instead. He looked up and then feathered a beautiful curling shot over Henderson and into the top corner from 25 yards out.

Harrison was directly involved as Everton seized the lead, turning his man and then whipping a dangerous cross to the back stick that McNeil controlled ahead of Nketiah’s out-stretched leg before burying a volley inside the upright from close range.

Dyche’s men made defending their lead harder than it needed to be by being careless in possession at times, but with the towering presence of Jarrad Branthwaite back in the heart of the back line, they defended stoutly and failed to give the visitors a clear chance to wipe out their advantage.

A Munoz header dropped behind the always-dangerous Jean-Philippe Mateta in front of goal and was cleared while Branthwaite blocked a pile-driver from Eze and, instead, it was the hosts who came close to wrapping it up when Calvert-Lewin sent Doucouré away but he allowed Lacroix to catch him up and toe it off him before he could try and beat Henderson.

Four understandably nervy minutes of stoppage time were successfully negotiated before referee Andy Madley called time and Everton secured their first three points of the campaign.

 

• Matchday updates and reaction

---

---

Reader Comments (12)

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer ()

---

How to get rid of these ads and support TW