Royston Drenthe admitted to thanking his God when a move to Goodison Park was signed and sealed in the dying hours of transfer deadline day – for now he and his manager will have to be thankful for small mercies.
In a game which Everton led twice and dominated from start to finish, there was plenty of positives to take, but, a fortnight after Everton rode out of Blackburn with all three points Dick Turpin fashion, their deserved bounty this week alluded them as Aston Villa benefitted from a smash and grab 2-2 draw.
David Moyes doesn’t do comparisons, this week alone he has snorted at suggestions that in his new signings he has the next Pienaar or Duncan Ferguson's heir – but a sizing up of the two sides who faced off this afternoon reflects kindly on his side.
Both front-runners in the ‘best of the rest’ stakes outside of the league’s big spenders, Everton managed to look streets ahead of their visitors who arrived on Merseyside equipped with a bona fide goal threat in Darren Bent, and the danger man Moyes had been chasing all summer, Charles N’Zogbia.
Moyes’ main concern may have been a lack of creativity following the departure of Mikel Arteta. But, showing the kind of time served knowledge which makes him one of the most trusted managers in the league, the Scot eschewed temptation to throw his new signings in at the deep end, opting instead to employ an eleven built for function more than flair.
Bent’s goal tally of 23 strikes last season was more than Everton’s front two of Osman and Cahill had managed between them, but it was the makeshift forwards of the home side who caused most of the problems this afternoon.
Osman was bundled over clumsily by Dunne in the first thirty seconds for a strong penalty shout which was waved away by referee Michael Oliver, but his crafty movement off the persistence of Cahill always looked a likely source of goals for the Blues and in the 18th minute it proved so.
The Australian ran onto a loose ball which had broken from a Jagielka deflected clearance affording him a brief sight on goal. In a moment of unselfish awareness he pulled a ball back for Osman, who never strayed too far from his partner, he applied a low right footed finish to give Everton their lead.
The home side grew after that and dominated a first half in which Barry Bannan’s long range shot was the only thing Tim Howard had to think about. Had Jack Rodwell’s massively deflected strike fell the right side of the post with Given committed the wrong way, the Blues could have gone into the break with a lead which reflected their supremacy.
Hardly guilty of stepping off the gas the hosts continued to look the better side in the second period, but it was a wonder strike from Stiliyan Petrov which next altered the scoreboard.
He picked up a ball untroubled in the middle of the park before brushing a curled effort into Tim Howard’s bottom right hand corner from all of 30 yards.
Everton’s will has been broken by such things in recent weeks, but they rallied again in a show of real character. Leighton Baines led the charge with another performance that showed, today of all days, just how unfathomable a decision it was for England to take Stephen Warnock to the South Africa in his place.
Joined by Drenthe on the left Baines found another gear much to the dismay of Barry Bannan, who was charged with the task of tracking him. The left-back had a strong penalty claim turned down after Bannan had appeared to trip him at the byline – minutes later he slammed home Everton’s second from the spot after Fabian Delph had climbed all over the back of Phil Jagielka during scramble in the box.
Villa know how to come back at Goodison though, they did it famously in 2008 and here they found a way too. In a rare foray into the Everton half Mark Albrighton led a swift counter attack in the 83rd minute. He was forced wide before curling an inch perfect cross toward Gabriel Agbonlahor to head home from close range.
Everton were brave in their response and they might have had a third had youngster Apostolos Vellios managed to steer his off balance shot into an empty net after rounding Shay Given. But the charge of taking another lead in the game was one too many and the Evertonians who had begun the day berating their board finished off feeling that life, on the pitch at least, held some promise for the coming season.
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Everton (4-4-1-1): Howard, Baines, Distin, Jagielka, Hibbert, Osman, Fellaini, Bilyaletdinov (Drenthe 71), Rodwell, Coleman (Barkely 81), Cahill (Vellios 85)
Subs: Mucha, Drenthe, Stracqualursi, Neville, Gueye, Barkley, Vellios
Aston Villa: Given, Hutton, Warnock, Dunne, Collins, Bent, N’Zogbia (Albrighton 71), Agbonlahor, Delph (Ireland 80), Heskey (Bannan 17), Petrov
Subs: Guzan, Ireland, Albrighton, Delfouneso, Clark, Bannan, Herd
Ref: M Oliver
Att: 32,736
By Aaron SHARP @ Goodison Park
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