James Tarkowski Stunner In The Last Minute Saves A Point For The Toffees

A 98th minute strike from James Tarkoswki, smashing the ball into the top right hand corner of the Gwladys’ Street saved a point for Everton, in the last Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park.

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Lineups:

Everton:

Pickford

Mykolenko

Branthwaite

Tarkowski

O’Brien

Gana

Garner

Doucoure

Lindstrøm

Beto

Ndiaye

Liverpool:

Alisson

Robertson

Van Dijk

Konaté

Bradley

Mac Allister

Gravenberch

Gakpo

Szoboszlai

Salah

Diaz

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The Goodison Park atmosphere was brewing both prior to kickoff and throughout the duration of the game. An organised coach meet-up was sorted to greet the Everton bus consisting of players and staff to create a hostile atmosphere and to provide a strong helping hand, which ended up being extremely necessary.

Everton, out of nowhere, opened the scoring. In the 11th minute, Jarrad Branthwaite had a free kick in the area between the halfway line and the penalty area, and a swift, unexpected through ball fooled Van Dijk and fell into the path of Beto, who slotted it home, sending Goodison into pandemonium.

However, the lead didn’t last long for the Blues, as only 5 minutes later, a cross in by Premier League top scorer for this season and Egyptian winger Mohammed Salah fell onto the head of an unmarked Alexis MacAllister, who desperately attempted to send the ball into the bottom left-hand corner, soon paying off as Jordan Pickford was inches away from saving the shot, but it trickled in, equalising the game and giving the Reds some hope that they will manage to claim a result in tough conditions.

At half-time there was a mixed reaction, including both applause and boos, towards the direction of the officials, mainly referee Michael Oliver, who, according to a lot of fans, had an abysmal refereeing performance. The referee had a huge job on his hands in the second half, especially with the super-tight offside call in the last moment of the match; however, before this, there was some more drama…

On the 73rd minute mark, a poor clearance from James Tarkowski fell inside the box to Curtis Jones, who took a shot in an attempt to curl in around Pickford in the Park End net. Although Pickford didn’t seem to be getting there, Jarrad Branthwaite was there to clear it. Unfortunately for David Moyes and his team, the ball fell to Salah, who had a half-empty net to strike into, doing just that and giving Liverpool the advantage and what looked like the three points.

That was, however, out of nowhere, a moment of magic at Goodison Park occurred, almost written in the stars. Fans leaving to beat the traffic, time-wasting, substitutions to slow the game down, and overall fatigue from both sides created a miserable mood, the away end being an exception, as they sang in unison, “We won the league at Goodison Park.” Within the five minutes of additional time, Jarrad Branthwaite and new signing Charly Alcaraz collided, forcing a stoppage in play due to head injuries. Alongside this, Alisson was time-wasting, forcing the referee to stop the clock together, allowing extra time on top of the initial extra time!

The last attack was in the face of a decent ball in by Ukrainian fullback Mykolenko, booting it high and long into the midst of the six players, three for each. The Liverpool defence somehow let the ball bounce in the penalty area, with Tim Iroegbunam, returning from injury, flicking on a backward header into the path of none other than Everton captain James Tarkowski.

In the 98th minute, Tarkowski had the opportunity to save the Blues a point in the last minute of the last Merseyside Derby at Goodison. On the first volley, Tarkowski volleyed the ball at extreme velocity before absolutely thumping the back of the Gwladys’ Street net, sparking pure havoc for everyone! A selection of fans pitch invaded, flares were being set off, emerging a cloud of blue, and that isn’t even the full story.

After Michael Oliver had blown his final whistle, Abdoulaye Doucoure was caught celebrating towards the Liverpool away end, causing Curtis Jones to lose his temper and lash out, starting the hustle and bustle that would continue for a couple of minutes. Both Doucoure and Jones received yellow cards during the incident, and as both players were already on a booking, both were sent off the field of play. Also, Arne Slot was seen arguing with the officials, therefore receiving the same punishment as his midfielder.

One of the best ways to cap off Merseyside derbies at Goodison Park was with David Moyes stating that “it was mayhem all game; it was a bit of an old-fashioned throwback all game. The bit after the game, I could tell you about it, but the truth is it’s not really what we should be talking about.

“What I do know is Doucoure got a yellow that led to a red, which I am disappointed with as we are short of players. The place was boiling hot all night, emotional; it was an incredible atmosphere inside the stadium.”

On the other hand, due to receiving the red card, Liverpool manager Arne Slot is not required to partake in any media work, such as interviews on radio or television, therefore leaving the job to captain Van Dijk, who said, To concede an equaliser that late is always disappointing. We saw the celebrations they had in the end, so we know how much it meant for them, but the fact is it was disappointing for us.

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Thank you for reading my post-match article!