The Joe Thomas verdict from the Gtech Community Stadium as Everton fight back twice to earn what could a crucial point in the Premier League
BRENTFORD, ENGLAND - APRIL 11: Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall of Everton celebrates scoring his team's second goal during the Premier League match between Brentford and Everton at Gtech Community Stadium on April 11, 2026 in Brentford, England. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall celebrates in front of the travelling Everton fans after his dramatic equaliser at Brentford (Image: Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
View Image
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s stoppage time equaliser may have split the points but it was clear which team felt like the winner at Brentford.
When Farai Hallam blew the final whistle, home forward Reiss Nelson dropped to the floor and thumped the turf in frustration. Igor Thiago, who until the 91st minute looked set to be the match-winner once again in this fixture, became embroiled in a row with an emboldened James Tarkowski.
Home supporters who, 15 minutes earlier, had erupted from a fit of nervous anxiety to celebrate retaking the lead, left disconsolate. Drowning out the PA system in the far corner of the ground, the travelling Blues celebrated as their players marched over to show their gratitude.
For all the joy in the Everton camp sparked by Dewsbury-Hall’s low finish, the overwhelming feeling on the journey home from London will be one of relief.
FOLLOW OUR EVERTON FC FACEBOOK PAGE!Latest EFC news and analysis from via the Liverpool Echo’s dedicated FB page
The Blues struggled for large parts of this game and while Brentford’s second goal owed a lot to genuine misfortune, they caused problems throughout.
It was Keith Andrews’ side that had emerged from the break with the greater intensity after the first half ended 1-1. They bombarded Jordan Pickford’s box with crosses - typically from the feet of marauding left back Keane Lewis-Potter and the hands of right back and long-throw expert Michael Kayode.
Everton repelled the majority of those attacks - this is a defence well versed in dealing with a barrage - but there were scares. The first came when Nathan Collins thundered a header off the bar from Mathias Jensen’s free-kick and the last came after Dewsbury-Hall’s equaliser, when Lewis-Potter’s dinked cross was glanced past a queue of red and white shirts by their team-mate, Kevin Schade.
With 20 minutes to go the game was in the balance and the eerie silence around the Gtech only served to emphasise the value of the result to both sides in the race for Europe.
Sensing an opportunity to seize the initiative, David Moyes made a triple substitution moments after Dewsbury-Hall had broken behind the Brentford defence but delayed his effort, allowing Caoimhin Kelleher to close him down. The former Liverpool goalkeeper had earlier denied Iliman Ndiaye with an outstretched leg as Everton threatened on the counter.
Moyes hoped to turn a rearguard display into one his side had more control over but the first duty of the new arrivals, Tim Iroegbunam, Thierno Barry and Tyrique George, was to respond to falling behind again.
Kayode cut inside George, nudged the ball past James Garner and poked a shot that hit Thiago, deflecting past a wrongfooted Pickford. It would have been a cruel way to have lost a pivotal match but the BLues showed the resilience that has been a hallmark of their season.
George, still waiting for his breakthrough moment since joining on loan from Chelsea in January, did not shirk responsibility. He sought the ball and delivered several teasing crosses into the box before sending a defender the wrong way and forcing Kelleher into a useful save.
It looked like that would be the closest Everton would get to a valuable point but then came Dewsbury-Hall, one of the heroes of the season to date. When Ndiaye’s effort was diverted across goal there was still work for the midfielder to do but he kept his composure to rifle a low finish past Kelleher from a tight angle.
It was a goal that sparked the away end into a rendition of his name and another stellar, fitting moment for a player whose impact has been central to the turnaround in the Blues' fortunes this season.
His seventh goal of the season came after Beto took his Premier League tally to the same number as Everton’s first half echoed their second.
The preparation and planning of the three-week break since the huge win over Chelsea quickly went to ruin as a long ball was nudged by Dango Ouattara into the path of Schade, who stole behind the defence before being brought down by Pickford.
When Thiago found the bottom corner from 12 yards there was a danger the Blues could fall apart like they did under his influence at Hill Dickinson Stadium in January.
The threat looked real as Pickford made several good saves but just like the second half, Everton found a foothold and took advantage when Beto nodded in Idrissa Gueye’s cross after good work from Jake O’Brien.
Moyes later acknowledged the importance of his side’s resilience, accepting: “The biggest thing was we didn’t allow ourselves to go under.”
It is one of several positives he can leave London with on an afternoon in which the Blues found a way to avoid suffering a knockout blow despite a below-par display.
The value of that stubbornness could be crucial in May - and everyone here knew it.