Everton take reserve points

Last updated : 04 March 2010 By Tony Scholes
Frédéric Nimani
Frédéric Nimani - scored the first goal
It was a drab, disappointing game at the Turf three days ago but this was a much more entertaining affair with the Clarets twice equalising an Everton goal before losing out to a late winner.

Burnley's side was nothing like as experienced as the line up on Monday although Joey Gudjonsson remained and captained the side and Christian Kalvenes played at left back.

Everton though were somewhat stronger than had initially been though. Despite there being no sign of their names on the team sheet both James Vaughan and Dan Gosling were in the team.

A bright start brought with it a couple of missed chances and two goals, and both were good finishes. Vaughan gave Everton the lead with an excellent volley from around twelve yards out following a ball in from the right.

He might have doubled that lead within a minute but delayed long enough for Kevin Long to get in and block his effort. And Everton paid for that almost immediately with Burnley drawing level.

Adam Kay, looking much more assured tonight, played the ball through for Frédéric Nimani. His first touch was excellent and his finish matched it has he hit it into the bottom corner to Iain Turner's right.

The game settled down after the early goals with both sides playing some good football. If anything Burnley were slightly the better side and with any luck would have gone in front. However, just before the break we should have done just that.

Nimani was put clear down the right and Turner could only palm his cross straight into the path of Chris Anderson. The usually reliable midfielder could only put his effort over the bar and so we went in at half time all square at 1-1.

It was Everton who got the upper hand after the interval thanks to the award of a penalty. Penny was adjudged to have brought down the Everton forward and it was Gosling who stepped up to convert the penalty.

Penalties against us have been a feature in the last few days. There were two for Portsmouth against us last Saturday, one of which was saved and the reserves conceded two on Monday with one of them saved again albeit with them scoring from the rebound.

So when the referee pointed to the spot again I calmly claimed Penny would save it. This time the decision looked very harsh for a handball against a totally bemused Curtis Woods. Gosling this time saw Penny get down to save.

Typical of Penny's night, he made the save and then from the rebound almost gifted them a goal. It stayed out and a couple of minutes later we were level again. Jay Rodriguez took the ball just outside the Everton box and expertly slotted the ball into the corner, an excellent finish for Jay.

At that point you'd have backed Burnley if anyone to win it. We were in the ascendancy but with the clock ticking down it was Everton who broke from just a few yards outside their own box to catch us out and get the winner.

A disappointing result, but a promising performance, and a far better game than we had to endure on Monday. The reserves will now be in action again next Tuesday when we play Wigan Athletic at Robin Park.

The teams tonight were;

Burnley: Diego Penny, Curtis Woods, Ben Hoskin, Kevin Long, Christian Kalvenes, Chris Anderson (Alex MacDonald 70), Joey Gudjonsson, Adam Kay, Alex-Ray Harvey, Frédéric Nimani, Jay Rodriguez. Subs not used: Jonathan Lund, Jake McEneaney, Joe McKee, Dom Knowles.

Everton: Iain Turner, Zac Thompson, Shane Duffy, Shkodran Mustafi, Luke Garbutt, Adam Forshaw, James Wallace, Dan Gosling, Nathan Craig, Jose Baxter (Hope Akpan 90), James Vaughan (Conor McAleny 60). Subs not used: Adam Davies, Anton Peterlin, Daniel Murphy.