A penalty late on in the day sees Calvert-Lewin back amongst the goals and gives Everton a well-deserved point at St. James Park.
Everton were back in league action for their second game in only a week’s time on Tuesday following a quick turnaround from Saturday that saw the blues fall in defeat at Bournemouth. Sean Dyche changed around the starting lineup for the match, opting for Ashley Young, Idrissa Gueye, and Beto in the eleven at the expense of Jack Harrison, James Garner and Calvert-Lewin up top.
The traveling toffees would be the side to take the impetus to Newcastle in the opening ten minutes, with two good chances early on. In the 6th minute a long-ball from Pickford found Doucoure who got himself into a good position but was only able to fire the effort over the bar. The second chance came in the 8th minute from a dead-ball, as McNeil whipped a gem into the box right on the head of Tarkowski who somehow could only power it over from close range.
The bright start would be missed only 7 minutes later, as the hosts found the opening breakthrough. A lightning counter set Harvey Barnes on his way who found Isak. Tarkowski was burned after finding himself horribly out of position, and Isak cut inside a rather naive challenge from Branthwaite to slot past Pickford and put Newcastle up 1-0. Newcastle would thoroughly control proceedings following the opening goal, and would subsequently hammer away at the Everton goal. It was a man of the match performance from Pickford that kept the toffees in it with great effort to deny Jacob Murphy right on the stroke halftime to send Everton into the dressing room somehow only down a goal.
Newcastle started the second half as they ended the first half, in control, and nearly made it 2 with a half hour to play in the match. Isak played a free kick into Dan Burns, and it seemed Everton had switched off as the 6’7 defender fired with menace past Pickford to put the game out of reach. However, VAR would come to the rescue for the toffees as Dan Burn was offside and the goal was chalked off.
Sensing a second opportunity, Sean Dyche went to his bench right after, bringing on Andre Gomes, James Garner and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Full credit to Dyche as the substitutions were highly effective for the blues, getting Everton back into the match. 5 minutes after coming on, Garner nearly had the equalizer as he gathered the ball inside the box, turned and fired a strike with menace that just bounced off the post to deny him a well-deserved goal. Then, in end to end action, Mykolenko was called into action to clear an Isak effort off the line only minutes later.
The moment for Everton came in the 85th minute, when Dummett brought down Ashely Young via a WWE-style chokehold in the box. Following a massive appeal to the referee, VAR took a look and eventually made the correct call in awarding Everton the penalty. Calvert-Lewin, who hadn’t scored in 23 matches, stepped up to the spot and struck a hard penalty into the net. It may not have been placed the best, but he hit it with some power and it was enough to sting the hands of Dubravka and find its way into the back of the net.
Everton would manage to hang onto the point in the end, and it felt deserved with the way Everton played in the second half, particularly following some impactful substitutions. The hunt for a win goes on yet, but it is another big point for the blues who will next get a massive opportunity to finally get the win they have been craving at Goodison on Saturday against Burnley.
UTFT!
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