Everton vs Stoke match report: Shay Given's own goal off Leighton Baines' penalty gives Toffees narrow win
Everton 1 Stoke City 0: Baines converted a contentious penalty which rebounded off Given for the game's only goal
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Your support makes all the difference.Another week, another penalty controversy involving Stoke City. There were two contentious spot-kicks awarded – one for each team – when Stoke lost to Manchester City last weekend and the clampdown on shirt-pulling in the box continued at the expense of Mark Hughes’s men at Goodison Park with Everton the beneficiaries of another questionable decision.
It came in the 50th minute as Ashley Williams went to the ground after seemingly minimal contact from Phil Bardsley at an Everton corner and referee Michael Oliver pointed to the spot. To add insult to injury, goalkeeper Shay Given palmed Leighton Baines’ ensuing penalty on to a post only for the ball to rebound against his head and roll over the line.
Stoke manager Hughes did not hide his understandable frustration afterwards when he said: “It is a key moment in the game, a big decision and a decision that needs to be correct. I’m more frustrated with this one than the Man City one as in fairness you could see why that was given but with the one today I thought there was a lot of movement in the box and Ashley Williams has gone down, whether or not he has clipped his own heels or he has stepped across Phil Bardsley. There was no pushing or pulling, it wasn’t as if he was dragged down.”
Hughes added: “I feared this would happen at the beginning of the season – that we’d be penalised more readily than other teams.”
Everton manager Ronald Koeman had sympathy for his Stoke counterpart, saying: “I think Mark Hughes will be angry. It is the second time in a Stoke match the referee is giving penalties in these situations and it’ not consistent. I was watching Liverpool v Tottenham and the referee is warning one player who grabbed the shirt of an opponent [Spurs defender Jan Vertonghen for an incident with Joel Matip].”
Controversy aside, Everton’s superiority warranted the three points. Their high-tempo football had the visitors on the back foot for long stretches and they now sit second in the table after three games, having taken seven points. “Maybe it is good to take a picture of that,” smiled Koeman. “As a manager I look at how we pressed our opponents and the productivity with 18 shots, nine on target.”
Sam Allardyce, the England manager, was in the Main Stand at Goodison and will have seen encouraging displays from a number of Koeman’s English players – Ross Barkley and Leighton Baines look rejuvenated under the Dutchman while teenager defender Mason Holgate had another impressive afternoon deputising for Seamus Coleman at right-back. Allardyce could be forgiven, though, for wishing the evergreen Gareth Barkley, still such an influence at 35, was a few years younger.
Stoke centre-half Ryan Shawcross, capped once by England four years ago, was another obvious focus for the England manager’s gaze. Stoke’s captain cleared two Romelu Lukaku efforts off the line to ensure the striker’s five-month goal drought in an Everton shirt goes on.
The out-of-sorts Lukaku was not the only one who might have scored before half-time as Peter Crouch made an acrobatic goalline clearance from a Williams header, while Kevin Mirallas saw his volley tipped over by Given.
Everton, with Barry and new boy Idrissa Gana Gueye excelling in midfield, began the second half with another flurry of pressure which eventually brought the goal. First Barkley rolled away from Joe Allen and dragged a shot just wide. Then Lukaku was foiled by Shawcross after rounding Given. From the ensuing corner, though, came the penalty, the controversy, and the only goal.
Stoke have just one point from their first three games and the closest they came to an equaliser was a deflected shot from Marko Arnautovic which struck the crossbar before Baines did brilliantly to get to the rebound before Allen. Arnautovic later got through again down the inside-left channel but failed to pick out substitute Jonathan Walters for an open goal as the pair misread each other’s intentions.
Everton (4-2-3-1): Stekelenburg; Holgate, Jagielka, Williams, Baines; Gueye, Barry; Bolasie, Barkley (Funes Mori, 84), Mirallas (Kone 70); Lukaku.
Subs: Robles, Deulofeu, Lennon, Oviedo, Davies.
Stoke (4-1-4-1): Given; Bardsley, Shawcross, Cameron, Pieters; Whelan; Diouf (Sobhi 78), Imbula (Bojan 78), Allen, Arnautovic; Crouch (Walters 65)
Subs: Haugaard, Muniesa, Adam, Ngoy.
Man of the match: Barry
Match rating: 6/10
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