Baines hits the spot as fightback stirs the soul
Last-gasp penalty averts full-blown crisis
SO WHERE do we begin? This is no easy task. In four short words, Watford’s shell-shocked manager Marco Silva attempted to offer an explanation.
‘ Everything happened this afternoon,’ said Silva, staring into space, trying to process one of the most absorbing, nerve-fraying and head- scrambling contests the Premier League will stage this season.
If Silva’s expression was haunted, David Unsworth was in a state of disbelief. Watford were in a position to trample all over what will most likely be his final match as caretaker manager but, instead, they ended up on the receiving end of an Everton comeback that stirred the soul.
Trailing 2-0 in the 64th minute thanks to goals from Richarlison and Christian Kabasele, the clatter of folding seats and the stomping of feet towards the exits threatened to provide the soundtrack for a full-blown crisis.
Everton’s players have been a shambles at times in recent months: meek and weak, an antithesis to the qualities this proud club demand.
Then, just when you thought they would capsize, Unsworth saw his team rediscover their ability to fight. It made for the most remarkable conclusion. ‘I need a lie down!’ Unsworth gasped. In the space of 23 minutes, Everton scored three times — the last a nerveless Leighton Baines penalty — to transform the game and potentially change their campaign.
‘What we gave in the second half was an Everton performance full of heart and desire,’ Unsworth added. ‘This must instil some belief and confidence. It was just incredible spirit.’
It needed to be. Though it will not secure Unsworth a full-time crack at managing Everton, spirit ensured he can at least debrief with owner Farhad Moshiri and chairman Bill Kenwright with his head high. This victory means whoever comes in next — whether it is Sam Allardyce, Sean Dyche or even the urbane Silva, who refused to discuss his future — will walk into a club within touching distance of mid-table, not one ensconced in the bottom three.
Goodison Park had not staged a more important Premier League game in a decade. The mood inside the old stadium was full of anxiety — 38,000 coiled springs — and Everton’s early play mirrored that.
They were poor in the first half, their only attempt on goal coming from a Baines shot that was fired straight at Heurelho Gomes after an excellent ball from Wayne Rooney and there were a couple of occasions when Watford should have sliced them open on the counter-attack.
The warnings were not heeded and 32 seconds after the restart, Richarlison finally made the impact he had threatened, showing tremendous poise after Andre Carrillo, then Gray, created the opening to finish from six yards.
Worse was to come, when a corner from Jose Holebas picked out Kabasele and he wriggled his way in front of Phil Jagielka to power a header past Jordan Pickford. That should have been it.
In between, though, Watford had lost goalkeeper Gomes with a gash to the head and replaced him with Premier League debutant Orestis Karnezis. He figured heavily in the breathless climax, starting when he got in a tangle and allowed the effervescent Oumar Niasse to claw a goal back in the 67th minute. ‘It is never easy for a goalkeeper in this atmosphere,’ said Silva.
But the pendulum had swung and soon Everton were level when substitute Dominic Calvert-Lewin rose highest to convert Baines’s corner after Jagielka had stood in the way of Karnezis. In the 90th minute, after Aaron Lennon had been brought down by Holebas, Baines took a gulp of air, steadied himself and converted from 12 yards; it was his 24th successful penalty, one more than the previous record-holder Unsworth. ‘I’ll give him that!’ said Unsworth.
There were 12 minutes of injury time after the stoppage for Gomes and treatment for Kabasele — enough for one more twist when Pickford took down Richarlison but Tom Cleverley, formerly of Everton, could not hold his nerve.
Goodison exploded with a guttural roar that signalled the win.