Ipswich's Comeback Forces Points to Be Shared In Goodison Park's Penultimate Game

Everton’s 2-0 lead in the penultimate game at the Grand Old Lady, alongside the sunshine and amazing pre-match display by the 1878s, would soon be cancelled out, as Ipswich’s comeback meant the game ended level.

Everton’s starting 11 was a strong one, with Dwight McNeil returning to the team sheet for his first start in 5 months due to a knee injury, as well as Charly Alcaraz, who was arguably one of the better players in last week’s 1-0 defeat to Chelsea away from home.

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Lineups:

Everton:

Pickford

Mykolenko

Branthwaite

O'Brien

Patterson

Gana

Garner

Alcaraz

Ndiaye

McNeil

Beto

Ipswich Town:

Palmer

O’Shea

Woolfenden

Burgess

Greaves

Morsy

Taylor

Hutchinson

Chaplin

Enciso

Delap

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Prior to kickoff, the 1878s, a fanbase group who first banged in February 2022 for Everton’s game against Leeds United. At the time, the 3-0 victory moved the Blues into a point behind 15th-placed Leeds, with the Toffees having a game in hand. To hopefully be the 12th man, the group organised a planned welcome for the team bus whilst also designing multiple banners to be used prior to kickoffs inside the ground, especially in Gwlady’s Street. As of late, the 1878s have gathered lots of traction and were, again, today given the opportunity to display their final showing at Goodison Park, as the club themselves have something planned for the final game, Southampton on the 18th of May, and it is fair to say they did impress! The sheer amount of preparation from everyone who organised the display must not go unnoticed, as there was certainly a lot to take in! First of all, a massive Goodison Park was spelt out in the Park End, giving every fan in that section of the ground a coloured piece of paper to create a beautiful presentation. Furthermore, multiple flags, including “I simply love you more than I love life itself”, a set of lyrics from Elton John’s I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues in the tier above the family enclosure, which had yellow and blue coloured pieces of paper too. On the Bullens side, an “The Originals” banner and another stating “The Story We Will Carry On” are written on it. In the Upper Bullens, on the front row, the group handed out sticker tape that was thrown onto the pitch when the players emerged from the tunnel! Finally, in the Gwladys Street, an abundance of flags were handed out, too many to mention!

Although the exhibit was fabulous, the players’ and David Moyes’ minds would have been focused on the task ahead. Kieran McKenna’s Ipswich side, who are already relegated, would have been hoping to cause a dent in the Goodison farewell, and did they so. The game started in favour of the home side, though, in the 26th minute, Charly Alcaraz picked up the ball on the left-hand side, crossing a fabulous ball into Beto, and the Portuguese striker diverted the head into the opposite right-hand side of the Park End goal, towering over the Ipswich defence, with a very well-placed header into the bottom corner, giving the Toffees the lead. It is fair to say the referee had a lack of control in the fixture today. Only a couple of minutes after Beto gave the Blues the advantage, Liam Delap and Jake O’Brien had an encounter; a small-scale fight led to the pair being booked by David Webb. It wasn’t long after that incident Everton doubled the deficit! Dwight McNeil, after only just returning to the starting 11, picked up the ball on the right-hand side, outside the box, cutting in and hitting it into the opposite bottom left-hand corner past English goalkeeper Alex Palmer, curling it around the Ipswich defence, then somehow forcing the ball to change direction to completely fool the 28-year-old between the sticks.

The first half was close to coming to an end, but Ipswich were on the attack; Julio Enciso was on the ball, fooling Everton and Senegalese midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye, leaving a wide piece of ground between the Toffees’ backline and midfield setup. The Paraguayan player took advantage of the situation, deciding to crack one from outside the box! Out of completely nowhere, the shot absolutely smashed the bottom of the crossbar and headed in, leaving all Blues shocked, with some even clapping the goal; even Jordan Pickford gave Enciso one for the effort, as ultimately, no keeper is stopping that. The strike left some nerves in Everton’s system, due to the record with 2-0 leads in the past, that Ipswich were able to pounce on in the second half.

In the 65th minute, again, was another proof of evidence that referee David Webb had a lack of control over both the sides today. After Charly Alcaraz was easily brought down by Ipswich attacker Conor Chaplin, the Everton midfielder reacted, leading to the both of them being booked. Due to the yellow card, Chaplin was brought off by Kieran McKenna, replacing the 28-year-old with Jack Clarke. David Moyes also brought off some players too, in an attempt to run down the clock, bringing off goalscorer Beto, as well as Dwight McNeil too, perhaps not yet returning to full match fitness due to this being his first start back, and replacing the pair with Calvert-Lewin , who has been a topic of discussion this week regarding his future at the club as the Englishman’s contract runs out this summer, and Jack Harrison. Literally 30 seconds after these substitutions, Ipswich got the equaliser. Omari Hutchinson, on the right-hand side, beat Gana Gueye in a footrace before chipping it over to the back post into a jumping George Hirst, who, with a limited space to put the ball into the back of the net, found the top section of the net, squeezing it home to the annoyance of English goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, who was rapidly scurrying over, forcing the points to be shared.

Moyes spoke about what the 62-year-old thought were “terrible decisions” in his post-match interview with the media, also explaining that “I thought we did a lot of good things. We've tried some different things today as well to see how players play in different roles. I thought we did really well in the opening part of the game for 30 minutes or so. I thought we played really well and got the goals eventually… But I think the goal just before half-time for them just sort of rocked us a little bit. It always gave Ipswich something to go at, and we couldn't quite get the third goal to get ourselves clear.” On the other hand, Kieran McKenna said that "It was certainly a difficult spot to be in (due to the amount of injuries Ipswich currently has)—both in terms of how we've come into the game and the challenges again we've had this week just getting a fit group together to start the game and trying to get some players back for the bench, while also knowing it was a big day for Everton… I didn't think we started badly, but two moments see us go 2-0 down. That's the level. Beto is really good on crosses, and we didn't defend him well enough. Then it's a good strike, but we should do better with it… Then we're in a really difficult spot in the game and in a difficult season, but the group really stuck at it… Of course, it was a great goal to get us back in it, but the goal also probably doesn’t happen if the group had stopped believing and their heads had dropped at that point… I thought we were good value for a couple of goals; we played some good football, defended with pretty good organisation, didn't give Everton too much, and I thought we were value for a point."

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Premier League Matchweek 35:

Friday 2nd May:

Manchester City 1-0 Wolves

Saturday 3rd May:

Aston Villa 1-0 Fulham

Leicester City 2-0 Southampton

Everton 2-2 Ipswich

Sunday 4th May:

Brighton 14:00 Newcastle

Brentford 14:00 Man United

West Ham 14:00 Tottenham

Chelsea 14:30 Liverpool

Monday 5th May:

Crystal Palace 20:00 Nottingham Forest

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Thank you for reading my post-match article!