Everton vs West Bromwich Albion. Premier League.
Goodison ParkAttendance39,061.
Saturday 20 January 2018 18:09, UK
Oumar Niasse scored within 57 seconds of coming off the bench to rescue a 1-1 draw for Everton against West Brom at Goodison Park.
Jay Rodriguez put the Baggies on course to claim back-to-back wins in the Premier League for the first time under Alan Pardew when he opened the scoring after seven minutes.
A disjointed Everton display took a turn for the worse when James McCarthy suffered an horrific double leg fracture early in the second half, which left West Brom striker Salomon Rondon distraught.
But the Toffees dug deep to claim a point as Niasse volleyed debutant Theo Walcott's knock-down home with his first touch on 70 minutes.
Rondon recovered to rattle the bar in stoppage-time but there was to be no winner as Everton boss Sam Allardyce had to settle for a draw from his 1,000th competitive game as a manager.
Goodison Park remembered the late Cyrille Regis with a touching minute's applause ahead of kick-off, and his former club made a start he would have been proud.
Less than a minute after Grzegorz Krychowiak had blazed over from a one-on-one, the Poland international's pass with the outside of his foot set Rodríguez through on goal and he coolly slotted home his sixth goal of the season.
Everton registered their first shot on target in 251 minutes of Premier League football when Jonjoe Kenny's curling effort drew a save from Ben Foster on 38 minutes, before Rondon headed over seven minutes later as West Brom missed the chance to double their lead before the interval.
Everton brought on Yannick Bolasie at half-time but it failed to have the desired effect as the visitors continued to create the clear openings.
Rondon wriggled clear of Mason Holgate on 58 minutes only to be denied by McCarthy's brave intervention, which resulted in the Republic of Ireland international sustaining a serious injury.
Rondon was among a handful of inconsolable players who took time to gather themselves after the incident.
Once the game got back up to speed, Niasse made an immediate impact from the bench, firing the equaliser within a minute of entering the fray, but there was still time for West Brom to go close to winning it as Rondon's swerving effort hit the bar in the closing stages.
Sam Allardyce: It was difficult to watch today. It was difficult for every fan in the ground to watch after what they've watched a couple of weeks ago, when we beat Swansea and put in a resilient performance against Chelsea. I see a lack of confidence because the players have not moved forward from where we started. It's my job to keep going and pushing the players.
Alan Pardew: It's not often you come to Goodison Park and feel slightly disappointed. We felt we could have won that game. We played well at times, took the lead, frustrated Everton and had them where we wanted them. They only had about two or three chances in the game and they scored from one.
West Brom's big man up front was a handful for the Everton defence throughout, but his courage to continue playing after his involvement in McCarthy's injury was admirable. The Venezuela international was in floods of tears while medical staff were tending to McCarthy, but he pulled himself together to see out the game.
And he so nearly claimed all three points for the Baggies with a host of chances late on, notably his stoppage-time effort which struck the bar, testament to his composure and professionalism.
Everton are next in action when Leicester travel to Goodison Park on January 31. West Brom are back on Merseyside on Saturday for their FA Cup fourth-round tie at Liverpool, before travelling to Manchester City the following Wednesday.
