Match Report | REPORT | Wolves 1-1 Everton

Yerry Mina Scores a Massive Last Gasp Goal in Everton’s Fight to Beat the Drop.

Matchweek 37 saw Sean Dyche and company on the road at Molineux to take on Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wolves had won their previous four matchups at home before welcoming Everton, and had kept clean sheets in all 4 of those matches. Sean Dyche made one change to the lineup that lost 0-3 to Manchester City, bringing in Amadou Onana in place of Mason Holgate.

Everton were active in the first ten minutes through Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who nearly scored with a low strike in the 4th minute and then with a high towering header in the 11th minute from a good cross in via Alex Iwobi. The away side kept up that early control for the first half hour of the match, with industrious play in the midfield organized play from the backline. The blues would see their next chance come at the end of that dominant half hour, with Yerry Mina rising above everyone in the 28th minute for a great opportunity to put Everton in front, with his header unfortunately going just over the crossbar.

Unfortunately the 29th minute would see right back Nathan Patterson withdrawn due to an injury, being replaced by Michael Keane. Dyche attempted to plug and play Keane at right back for the remainder of the first half, which didn’t quite go as planned. Only 5 minutes later Wolves would find their first goal, after a sloppy Everton turnover in the Wolves half of the field. Adam Traore would latch onto an errant pass before making a 60 yard run and firing at Jordan Pickford’s goal. Pickford would make the save but the rebound would fall right to Hwang would calmly slotted home the effort to put the hosts up 1-0. Several Everton players likely could and should have taken a yellow card to stop the run of Traore, but did not, leading to the breakthrough for the hosts.

Wolves took control after the first goal and would dominate the rest of the first half until even more torrid news for the blues right on the stroke of halftime. Calvert-Lewin went down holding his head in his hands and would summarily have to be brought off for Demari Gray, a huge loss for the toffees going into halftime. Dyche and company would look to a different formation in the second half after the forced substitutions, with Keane now slotting between the two central defenders in a back 3 along side McNeil and Garner in a wingback formation. The back 5 solidified the shape after a torrid last 20 minutes of the first half, and Keane nearly equalized in the 50th minute from a free kick, but he could not direct a difficult bouncing effort with enough power.

Wolves and Everton both would settle into an almost pedestrian affair for the next 20 minutes, with a couple of half chances for the hosts, and an effort from Demari Gray from long distance in the 69th minutes that stung the palms of the Wolves keeper. Eventually Everton would make a double substitution in the 81st minute, bringing on Neal Maupay and Mason Holgate in place of Idrissa Gueye and Amadou Onana.

The last 15 minutes saw Sean Dyche roll the dice in a rather interesting way, lumping Michael Keane up top in a center forward roll to play between Demari Gray and Maupay. The forward thinking toffees were nearly caught out in the 92nd minute as Wolves won the ball and got Matheus Nunes one on one with Jordan Pickford, but the Everton keeper made a massive save to keep the scoreline level.

Then, with nearly the last kick of the game, Everton struck from nowhere. A 99th minute cross in from Demari Gray found James Tarkowski, he headed the ball down to Keane who controlled beautifully before putting a great ball across the box for Yerry Mina to bundle across the line to save a huge point for the traveling toffees. After a Leeds loss on Sunday, the point could prove massive for Everton. Everton will need Newcastle to get a massive result on Monday, at which point it could be back in Everton’s hands for a last day great escape at Goodison Park against Bournemouth.