Graham Pearcey

Date: 30 March 2024

This was such a poor performance (from both sides) that there was speculation we’d be last on BBC’s ‘Match of the Day’. Well, in the event we were last but one (!), but we’d got three points which I guess is what most matters.

Everton won the toss and opted to swap ends (presumably so that we’d be playing into the setting sun in the first half). We began brightly enough but Everton grew into the game as the minutes ticked by and had the best scoring chance of the half: a Calvert-Lewin shot brilliantly saved by Neto. Our own best chances in the first period came from a number of corner kicks taken by Cook on both the left and right sides.

So it was 0-0 at half time, but on the hour mark Kelly came on as a substitute for Kerkez, and within seconds he was being credited with an important ‘assist’! Overlapping with Tavernier, Kelly’s first touch of the match was a perfectly executed cross to Solanke who, despite having two defenders marking him, easily scored from close range. 1-0.

Neto made a couple of poor clearances (one down the centre of the pitch and one into the East Stand) that resulted in the crowd getting on his back – and then calamitously on 87 minutes he fumbled a save and the ball landed at the feet of Beto (a substitute for Calvert-Lewin) who couldn’t miss. 1-1 as we moved into six minutes’ added time.

Our late second, and winning, goal was scored at the far end of the pitch from where I was sitting. You could see Unal celebrating but the ball – resulting from a cross from the right – didn’t seem to have touched a Bournemouth player on its way in. Sure enough, no scorer was announced via the PA system because the ball had actually gone in off Coleman’s chest – Coleman presumably trying (but failing) to pass to Pickford.

The sponsors’ ‘man of the match’ was Cook, who’d certainly had a good game; but I think I’d have awarded it to Semenyo – active as ever on the right wing for the full ninety-plus minutes. The final whistle went with the score at 2-1; but this wasn’t the end of my enjoyable day because the timing of the match (unusually, 3 PM on a Saturday!), and the lack of any rail engineering plans or strikes, meant I was able to enjoy a train journey homewards in the company of other fans for once.

The team lined up as follows at the start of the game:

Neto;
Smith, Zabarnyi, Mepham, Kerkez;
Adams, Cook;
Semenyo, Kluivert, Tavernier;
Solanke

By the end the line-up was:

Neto;
Smith, Zabarnyi, Mepham, Kelly;
Adams, Cook;
Semenyo, Philip, Ouattara;
Unal

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