omelu Lukaku struck the winner as
Everton departed West Ham with a 3-2 Barclays Premier League victory
that exploded into life in a dramatic climax at Upton Park.
With
the teams locked at 2-2, Lukaku nodded home Kevin Mirallas' cross with
six minutes left to celebrate his Toffees debut by plundering the
decisive score.
The Belgium
striker, whose half-time arrival at the expense of Nikica Jelavic
galvanised Everton, needed treatment after clashing heads with Joey
O'Brien in the act of scoring but was able to continue.
Some debut: Romelu Lukaku (No 17) fires past a sprawling goalkeeper to give Everton the 3-2 victory
Screamers: Leighton Baines (left) is congratulated after two incredible free-kicks helped Everton to victory
The dominant figure on the pitch, it
was a superb performance from Lukaku that strengthens the suspicion
Chelsea were foolish to send him to Goodison on a season-long loan.
The
Toffees had equalised twice through Leighton Baines, who struck two
brilliant free-kicks in front of England coach Roy Hodgson to keep his
side in contention.
The
second arrived in the 84th minute after Mark Noble was shown a second
yellow card after hacking down Ross Barkley from behind.
It
was cruel twist to the afternoon for Noble, who shortly before had
dispatched a penalty he had won himself after having his legs swept
beneath him by blundering substitute James McCarthy.
West
Ham - missing attacking options Andy Carroll, Joe Cole and Stewart
Downing to injury - can at least take comfort from the end of their
scoring drought which had lasted 314 minutes until Ravel Morrison fired
them ahead after half an hour.
Everton
went close after six minutes when Mirallas tested Jussi Jaaskelainen
and Steven Naismith was inches away from a second attempt when the ball
sailed past.
There was
plenty of early endeavour from both teams but the visitors were more
precise in the final third with the busy Mirallas looking dangerous.
It
was West Ham who showed precision in the 31st minute as they surged
ahead, although a large deflection off Phil Jagielka helped them take
the lead.
Calm: Ravel Morrison scores his first goal for the club
Youngster: And is congratulated by Hammers team-mates
Leighton Baines was energetic as ever at left-back: Check out more stats and results at Sportsmail's match zone here.
Matt
Jarvis, once again proving a handful down the left wing, skillfully
threaded his way infield and teed up Morrison and the former Manchester
United midfielder drilled the ball home via the deflection.
Barkley
was booked for a nasty tackle on Morrison that saw him stamp down his
outstretched leg and Kevin Nolan attempted to overpower Tim Howard at
the ensuing free-kick, but the Everton keeper showed courage.
Lukaku
came on for the second half and his delicate early touch was taken on
by compatriot Mirallas, who raced to the byline and crossed only for
West Ham to recover by getting numbers back.
Naismith
had also made way for McCarthy as Roberto Martinez attempted to
invigorate his side, but the Hammers were more creative with Jarvis
galloping free and just failing to find Modibo Maiga.
Tinkering: Roberto Martinez made many changes for the second-half
Not enough: Mark Noble (left) scored a penalty but Sam Allardyce's (right) side couldn't hang on
Showing vision once more, Lukaku played Barkley into the area only for England midfielder to run down a blind alley.
Everton maintained the pressure, however, with Baines sending a cross to the far post but it was too fast for Mirallas to reach.
The
initiative had been seized and in the 62nd minute the equaliser
arrived, Baines steering a terrific 20-yard free-kick beyond
Jaaskelainen into the top left corner.
Unstoppable: Jussi Jaaskelainen (below) had no chance of keeping out Baines' free-kick
Recovery: Lukaku had earlier been suffering with a head injury before his goal
Noble flashed a corner wide of the left post and Baines forced a save from close range as the match opened up.
Noble
powered home from the spot after being hacked down by McCarthy, but
then he trudged off after receiving a second yellow from Mason and
Baines delivered the equaliser.
The outstanding Lukaku deserved a goal and it duly arrived as he nodded Everton to victory.
No comments:
Post a Comment