Everton vs. Southampton

The Fitz

Marcus Bent netted a 92nd-minute leveller as Everton stole an unexpected point in a thrilling 2-2 draw against Southampton at St Mary's.

After James Beattie had netted just four minutes into his St Mary's return, Peter Crouch's equaliser and Henri Camara's fine strike looked as though Saints were heading for all three points. However, despite their domination throughout, Bent left Harry Redknapp's men cursing their luck when he outpaced Calum Davenport and crashed an unstoppable effort into the roof of the net.

Beattie, who left Saints last month in a £6m switch to the Blues, netted his first Premiership goal for his new club, the frontman volleying home into the roof of the net after James McFadden's long throw-in had caused panic in the area.

Beattie almost netted an even more spectacular second when his looping left-footed volley produced an excellent save from deputy goalkeeper Paul Smith, but after that it was all Southampton.

Saints poured forward in numbers and eventually made the breakthrough nine minutes before the interval when beanpole striker Crouch rose the highest to head the immaculately-coiffed David Prutton's long throw-in high into Nigel Martyn's net.

Crouch almost put Saints 2-1 up when his volley beat Nigel Martyn but was hacked off the line by Alan Stubbs, while Tim Cahill came close for the Blues as the half drew to a close.

Saints started the second half as they had ended the first and were denied a clear-cut penalty when David Weir pushed a bouncing ball away from Crouch with his hand.

However, Saints were not deterred and they moved into the lead five minutes later when the lively Camara started and finished a move, the Senegalese frontman exchanging passes with Prutton before lifting the ball over Martyn for his second goal in as many games.

Graeme Le Saux then whistled a volley inches wide, while chances came and went for Crouch and Davenport.

Camara continued to tease and torment the Everton backline and he could have added to his tally as the match ticked into injury time, before Bent's late strike earned the Blues an unlikely point.

As a true Everton fan I was so disappointed with the performance, especially with the defence, Stubbs, Pistone, Weir and Hibbert all were ****e.
Although Peter Crouch is a freak

knobbles

another crucial late goal
how long can this last???
just 12 more games to go and a 5 point cushion over Liverpool,
with tough games ahead for both...

Everton v Chelsea
Birmingham v Liverpool

Aston Villa v Everton
(carling cup final)

Everton v Blackburn
Newcastle v Liverpool

then March 20 is the derby at anfield!!!

very interesting indeed,
will be very difficult to hang on to 4th but remarkable achievement to be where they are now. Still dreamin

The Fitz

Its on, really missed gravesen today

kensutz

Everton did us a favour with a scummer scoring the equaliser. But they still robbed us on Wednesday

The Fitz

ah bentie's not scum, just cos he's an ex- tractor boy. Super Toffees

kensutz

he is! lol

The Fitz

kensutz wrote:

he is! lol

ah boo, yisar goin down.

Third_Echelon

well at least its another point on the board, thats the main thing...

Norwich shot themselves in the foot the other night. Nobody to blame but theirselves.....

The Fitz

thnk god were not in that dog fight, its a welcome change

knobbles

i'm off to goodison myself next week for the Chelsea game,
can't say i fancy our chances but should be a crackin atmosphere anyway. Robben out, muddy pitch, ye never know!

kensutz

Muddy pitch?? it's a disgrace of a pitch. it's like 1000 golfers were out practicing with the amount of divots in the pitch. totally unplayable for anyone.

The Fitz

ah boo, just cos we won, yea its pretty bad. it wont even be ready for the cup tie with the mancs

MrJoeSoap

I'm totally devestated, even a good 2 hrs after the game. For 86 minutes we completely ran the show. I honestly think we're going down now.

The Fitz

yea well nothin goes your way when ur at the bottom, it happened to us so many times its just payback

Chucky the tree

If they lose to chelsea and we beat birhmingham i think we will get fourth. Everton are clinging on to the results, they cant scrape last minute goals every game!

The Fitz

the anfield game's gonna be huge, arteta was ok today, needs time as well though

mike65

Chucky we're* 5 points adrift so they'll still be 4th by 2 points.

Mike.

*liverpool for those wondering!

Chucky the tree

mike65 wrote:

Chucky we're* 5 points adrift so they'll still be 4th by 2 points.

Mike.

*liverpool for those wondering!

i know there will still be fifth, but i think we will still get 4th place by the end of the season i meant. If we can beat birmingham it will be a massive boast of confidence for us. And everton will start feeling the pressure aswell.

a race for the premiership, fourth place and the relegation battle. Tis looking like an exciting end of season!

The Fitz

pity its not at the top three though thats a 1 horse race

Third_Echelon

kensutz wrote:

Muddy pitch?? it's a disgrace of a pitch. it's like 1000 golfers were out practicing with the amount of divots in the pitch. totally unplayable for anyone.

It was supposed to be totally relayed after the norwich game so it'd be ready for the chelsea game next weekend, but man utd had some sort of priority on a section of turf from the turf company in holland. They had first choice on it, or had it reserved or something like that, so we could only get enough for the penalty areas....

Typical man utd throwing their weight around on and off the pitch... its turf wars.... turf wars i tell you

kensutz

from where we were sitting, there's an awful slant on the pitch towards the end with the away supporters in it. from all the grounds i've been to it's been to most noticeable. i wouldn't blame the pitch or anything about our result, it's the way things go and you've gotta take it and move on to the next game. Bring on Blackburn.

Third_Echelon

most pitches are slanted on purpose for drainage reasons. If you ever look at the old trafford pitch, were it is most noticable, it is higher in the middle of the pitch around the centre circle and slant out towards the corners.... Its a bit like a baseball mound, but obviously not the same height and gradient etc....

d22ontour

Third_Echelon wrote:

most pitches are slanted on purpose for drainage reasons. If you ever look at the old trafford pitch, were it is most noticable, it is higher in the middle of the pitch around the centre circle and slant out towards the corners.... Its a bit like a baseball mound, but obviously not the same height and gradient etc....

if glazier gets his way,maybe there will be baseball played on it

MrJoeSoap

fitzer666 wrote:

the anfield game's gonna be huge, arteta was ok today, needs time as well though

What game were you watching??? Arteta was RUBBISH. He came on and looked like he didnt want to be there at all! I can't wait to see him get involved in any sort of 50/50 challenge in the Liverpool game, he's such a wuss.

The reason he left Spain was that he didnt like the physical game his manager was promoting. Talk about a bad replacement for Gravesen!

The Fitz

yeah he was our mr. motivator among other things. Chelski on sat.