Yakubu strike seals Toffees point

12 April 2012

Ayegbeni Yakubu scored against his former club to stretch Everton's unbeaten run to five games as they came from behind to draw 1-1 with Middlesbrough.

Boro did not deserve to lose this Barclays Premier League clash, having led for so long through an early Gary O'Neil strike.

In the end it was old boy Yakubu who grabbed the equaliser after 68 minutes, and there was some fortune in his goal as the ball deflected off his back.

Everton pressed early with effect through Leon Osman and Phil Neville on the right, but were stunned by a Boro goal after just eight minutes.

Tuncay had seen one 20-yard effort go wide before an astute Stewart Downing pass exploited yards of space down the right flank.

Joleon Lescott had been sucked into the middle, and there was O'Neil to run into the box and fire low past Howard.

In the 52nd minute Boro almost caught Everton on the break when Alves and Tuncay raced away, the ball eventually finding Arca, but he hooked his shot over the crossbar.

Digard was then booked for a trip on Arteta and when the little Basque midfielder fired over the free-kick, Yakubu claimed a 65th-minute equaliser, the ball deflecting in off his back.

Boro responded with a Digard shot that Howard pushed onto a post. Emanuel Pogatetz was then booked for a foul on Yakubu, before Adam Johnson replaced Arca.

Anichebe took over from Tim Cahill soon afterwards, with James Vaughan then replacing Yakubu. But no manner of pack shuffling could give Everton more than a point.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in