Everton plays Middlesbrough to a draw

By: 21 | November 16th, 2008

Middlesbrough supporters will definitely slighted by the result as they looked to be headed for three points before the Toffees powered towards a 1-1 draw. Boro took the lead when Stewart Downing provided Gary O’Neil a perfect opportunity on the counter-attack only eight minutes into the match and he efficiently put the ball to the back of the net. Gareth Southgate’s club were clearly the aggressor in the attack early and were close to adding to their lead as a number of attempts missed narrowly, including Didier Digard’s effort ringing off the post. Everton efforts were falling helpless and meeting the tenacious and physical Boro back-line led by the venomous Austrian international Emanuel Pogatetz for the early part of the match. However slowly as the match matured, Everton seemed to get the attack engine moving forward and were on the verge of scoring before the half. Finally Everton found the back of the net twenty minutes after the break in the most fortunate of circumstances as Mikel Arteta’s free-kick was redirected off Yakubu’s back and into the goal to bring the match level. Both squads pushed towards the winner but all efforts fell short and the match ended 1-1.

Following the match Everton manager David Moyes said:

“We missed a lot of opportunities and have played better. When they went ahead with a goal on the counter-attack there was always the chance that they could do that again, so we needed to be careful.

“But give us credit, we kept going forward although we found it very difficult to score.

“I was pleased for Yakubu to have scored. He had a couple of other chances beforehand so he will be pleased with his effort too. He did a lot better in this one, overall it was a better performance from him.”