Everton’s run of form survived Beto’s loss of his. David Moyes’s resurgent side secured a third draw in four games and extended their unbeaten run in the league to seven, despite their recently red-hot Portuguese striker’s failure to find a way past Mark Flekken with any of three superb chances.
Instead it was Jake O’Brien – the 23-year-old whose promotion by Moyes to the first-team coincided with the start of their current run – who rescued a point with his first goal for the club after Yoane Wissa had put Brentford ahead in the first half. With Ipswich losing at Old Trafford, Everton, who were a point above the relegation places when Moyes was appointed last month, stand 15 clear with relegation worries a distant memory.
So, too, is Brentford’s last home win, and this result means at least three months will have elapsed between their last victory here and their next. In truth that is a reflection of the quality of their opponents and a bit of bad luck rather than anything more concerning, and Thomas Frank was probably correct in asserting that “we’d be out of sight, we win” if only Keane Lewis-Potter had scored when picked out by Mikkel Damsgaard’s excellent reverse pass in the 70th minute. Wissa turned the ball in when it broke to him off Jordan Pickford but he was three yards offside.
Frank insisted that this was “probably a fair result” and that “in the second half we controlled them, they had nothing”; Moyes said his side “were terrific in the second half” and “we’re very disappointed not to take all three points”. With proper finishing they would have done so.
Ethan Pinnock’s slip allowed Beto to run clear on goal in the 39th minute, but in attempting to lift the ball past Flekken the forward succeeded only in chipping it into the goalkeeper’s arms.
Three minutes later Carlos Alcaraz’s headed through-ball sent the forward, author of five goals in his previous five games, sprinting clear again, but this time his shot deflected wide off the keeper. Then in the 88th minute Pinnock went to ground again in an attempt to cut out a through-ball but succeeded only in diverting it a little wider than Beto would have liked, and again Flekken saved.
“I know it sounds crazy when he got three one‑on-ones but we actually controlled him in open play,” Frank said.
Brentford had started the game brightly before losing steam towards the end of the first half, at which point they took the lead. It was a goal that would have infuriated anyone who shares Moyes’ enthusiasm for effort and organisation: Kevin Schade’s long throw from the right was allowed to bounce in the area, Bryan Mbeumo was unimpeded as he headed it against the bar, and even then there were three defenders better placed to reach the rebound than Wissa, who sprinted past them all to crash it into the net from barely a yard.
Fuelled by regret and 15 minutes with a snarling Scotsman, Everton started the second half with renewed commitment to attack, though this led to little more than a succession of crosses into Flekken’s arms.
Finally in the 77th minute they got one right, O’Brien meeting Vitalii Mykolenko’s superb centre with a matching header. Everton will be rewarded for their hot streak with some actual heat, on a training break in the United Arab Emirates.
“The players have worked really hard and had a lot of rubbish to deal with, so we’re going to have a period in the sun,” Moyes said.
