Everton 2-3 Crystal Palace
- Published
Palace match scoreline they achieved at Goodison in April
Palace remain unbeaten under Neil Warnock
The London club move out of the bottom three
Everton have won only three of their last 10 games
Crystal Palace claimed their first win of the season as they extended Everton's winless league streak at Goodison Park to four matches.
The visitors came from behind after Romelu Lukaku fired in to reward Everton for their early dominance.
Palace equalised through a Mile Jedinak penalty on 30 minutes before Fraizer Campbell's header and Yannick Bolasie's low shot put them firmly in control.
A Leighton Baines penalty gave Everton hope late on but Palace held on.
This is a less brave and bold Palace to the one led by Tony Pulis that secured an impressive 3-2 win on this ground at the end of last season but they remain physically competitive and tactically astute under the experienced Neil Warnock, who now has a win to go with the two draws with which he began his second spell in charge of the club.
This victory is a testimony to their resilience and self-belief as they were barely in the game in the first 30 minutes against an Everton side who showed no initial ill-effects from their Europa League exertions against Wolfsburg on Thursday.
The initial bouyancy from the Toffees was enabled by the fresh legs of Christian Atsu, Samuel Eto'o and Leon Osman, all of whom were making their first start of the season and all of whom posed Palace problems.
It was from the latter's neat pass that the home side took the lead, as Lukaku gathered possession and powered past a static back-line before side-footing a low shot past Julian Speroni.
It was all too easy for the Toffees, so much so that they took their foot off the gas and were undone by their own hubris as Palace equalised completely against a run of play that had, in truth, ground to a near halt.
John Stones and Sylvain Distin left a headed flick-on for keeper Tim Howard, who arrived too late to claim the ball and instead took out James McArthur in the box, giving Jedinak the chance to stroke in an unstoppable penalty.
The goal gave Palace an inch and from it they took a mile.
Warnock's men came within inches of giving themselves a half-time lead as Bolasie's deflected 30-yard shot struck the corner of the goal frame.
But they only had to wait until nine minutes into the second half, as Howard's torrid afternoon continued when his misjudged flap at a cross allowed Campbell to head home and put Palace in front.
With Everton in disarray, the visitors extended their lead as Jason Puncheon found Bolasie in the box and he struck a low shot across Howard and into the net on 69 minutes.
The introduction of Steven Naismith and Kevin Mirallas gave the home side impetus, which resulted in James McCarthy drawing a foul from Scott Dann to win a penalty.
Baines dispatched the 83rd-minute spot kick to pull one back but Everton could not find an equaliser despite six minutes of added time.
Everton manager Roberto Martinez:
"The penalty was an incredible reward for Palace and from then on the mental change allowed Palace to have a lot of belief and to change the game.
"It was very uncharacteristic of us to concede three goals with three errors, but even then the character was incredible and we almost managed to get something out of the game."
Crystal Palace boss Neil Warnock:
"This gives everyone a lot of belief. We should have won the other two games against Newcastle and Burnley and we were disappointed not to.
"I thought we deserved to win it today. We were apprehensive in the first 20 minutes and gave them a bit too much respect but from that moment we grew into the game and we said it was a game we could go on and try to win.
"What pleased me was that Everton are a good side and we had to hang in there at times and put our head in and make tackles and blocks, and I like that kind of football."
- Published21 September 2014
- Published21 September 2014
- Published21 September 2014
- Published21 September 2014
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