Everton 2 West Ham 2

Everton dominated possession in the opening 20 minutes. West Ham looked to be lacking ideas going forward but seemed to be coping fairly well defensively.

Despite their possession Everton were not creating chances. In fact their only sniffs on goal in the opening twenty minutes came from a couple of 30 yard freekicks. Baines hit one straight at the wall and Saha smashed the other wide. For West Ham Stanislas and Parker both had long range efforts that both flew wide.

Then in the 24th minute Baines found acres of space on the left wing and crossed into the box. Spector made a real hash of his headed clearance, only clearing the ball to eight yards out. Cahill headed the ball back into the six yard box and Bilyaletdinov had an easy headed goal from 5 yards out.

In the 36th minute West Ham had a golden opportunity to draw level. Parker played Cole clear into the penalty area and Distin brought the striker down. The ref ignored the straight red card for a foul by the last man but did give the penalty. Mido then passed the penalty kick to the left of the goal for an easy save for Howard.

In the 40th minute Bilyaletdinov had a shot from outside the box which flew wide and that was about it for significant first half action.


It was a much better performance from West Ham in the second half. West Ham had much more possession than in the first half. In the 59th minute Noble hit the crossbar with a ten yard chip. The ball was eventually bundled out of play for a corner which was rewarded when Da Costa managed to bundle the corner home with his left foot 5 yards out. West Ham then had a couple of long range efforts from Cole and Parker which didn't trouble Howard in goal.

Somewhat against the run of play however Everton managed to regain the lead when Yakubu headed in Baines' cross from close range in the 85th minute. For once however West Ham had a bit of passion about them and rather than giving up almost immediately got back on level terms. In the 87th minute Faubert crossed the ball from deep on the right wing and Ilan scored with a diving header from 9 yards.


This was a much better battling performance from West Ham. The corner stats of 8-2 in West Ham's favour reflects the pressure that West Ham managed to apply to a team with a very good home record. A few more performances like this and we might actually avoid relegation.