Analysis as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's superb goal gave Everton a 1-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford on a famous night for the Blues
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored Everton's winner at Old Trafford
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored Everton's winner at Old Trafford
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Earlier this month, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall revealed that away from football, a love for musical theatre was his “guilty pleasure.” Those who aren’t fans of the genre will often deride it for its lack of realism, you could say the same about the circumstances behind this Everton win, but then sometimes fact is stranger than fiction.
The Blues midfielder also refused to rule out treading the boards himself – after he hangs up his boots – but for now, he revelled in his part as leading man in those most unlikely of productions that even that late chairman and performing arts titan Bill Kenwright would have struggled to dream up.
But this was no glitzy greasepaint and sequins production, but a gritty thriller, played against the soundtrack of jubilant Evertonians who celebrated wildly as Dewsbury-Hall performed a knee-slide in front of them after planting the ball into Senne Lammens’ net.
Although the summer signing from Chelsea had netted a smart goal in the 3-2 win at Wolves back on August 30, he has acknowledged that, playing in his number 10 role, he needs to be scoring more and this was the kind of run and finish he’d been threatening to pull off ever since his impressive debut against Roma in Everton’s final pre-season friendly.
In the aforementioned interview, Dewsbury-Hall also remarked about the Blues’ supporters: “I see how passionate they are and how much they want to win, and it just resonates with me because that’s how I live my life. I’m not saying that the other clubs weren’t like that, but I just feel like Everton’s on a different level.”
Those passions have just been taken up a notch.
Fight for us
Those were the three words that appeared on an Evertonian banner when the club were embroiled in their relegation battles of recent years, but while Blues supporters have always demanded a battling spirit from their players, they don’t expect them to take it out on each other – no matter how much of a brave face David Moyes tries to put on in public when it comes to the sending off incident.
As written by this correspondent in an article published just one day before this game following an interview with Michael Keane: “the 32-year-old is a model professional who will never give any manager a hint of a problem when it comes to his conduct,” - but by the same token he’s no pushover.
While things escalated quickly with tempers flaring in a blink of an eye – ironically after Everton had got away with a defensive mix-up as the resultant Manchester United shot flashed wide – Keane seemed to give as good as he got with Idrissa Gueye, but crucially it was the Senegal international who delivered the slap that prompted Teesside referee Tony Harrington to give him his marching orders. With 6ft 3in Keane some eight inches taller than his diminutive team-mate, it was a catchweight contest to rival another famous Blues away day success at Anfield in 1999 when Francis Jeffers and Sander Westerveld were sent off for trading blows.
Unfortunately, this was more like the unseemly in-house scuffle between Everton colleagues Don Hutchison and Richard Gough at home to Coventry City in the same year, or another Goodison Park spat earlier in the decade when Liverpool keeper Bruce Grobbelaar raised his hands at fellow Red Steve McManaman after the Blues had scored in a 2-0 Merseyside Derby win.
The difference back then was that all the tussling team-mates stayed on. A Premier League player hadn’t been sent off for striking his own team-mate for almost 17 years since Stoke City’s Ricardo Fuller slapped captain Andy Griffin against West Ham United on December 28, 2008.
Perfect 10 (men)
This was of course only the second Everton win at Manchester United since their emphatic 3-0 success in their opening Premier League away game on August 19, 1992, with the other one coming courtesy of Bryan Oviedo on December 4, 2013 when long-serving Blues boss David Moyes was of course in charge of the Red Devils. To secure that victory, just shy of a dozen years ago, Roberto Martinez’s visitors only needed to cling on for a mere four minutes after the late strike from the Costa Rican – ironically brought to Goodison Park by Moyes.
Here, Everton still had 77 minutes on the clock when Gueye went off and over an hour still to go when Dewsbury-Hall netted what proved to be the only goal of the game. Incredibly, the Blues became the first ever team to win a Premier League match at Old Trafford having had a player sent off and it was their first victory after being reduced to 10 men in the first half since another Moyes away day triumph, 2-0 against Tottenham Hotspur on August 26, 2006.
Many observers felt that opposite number Ruben Amorim wouldn’t make it this far, but after a thumping 4-0 win against Everton in this corresponding fixture last season in what was his Premier League opener at home, the Portuguese coach was supposed to be celebrating one year in charge of Manchester United here. The Blues of course spoiled the party, but whereas Amorim, like Moyes, just 38 when he came into the dugout in the division, is still learning his trade, this was a landmark moment for the old master.
The 62-year-old, now the elder statesman among Premier League managers, failed to win away to Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea during his first spell in charge of Everton. There have been a brace of defeats at Anfield and another loss at Stamford Bridge since he came back, so this could be a breakthrough result for gaffer and team alike.