Everton 1-1 West Ham Utd: Lukaku rides to rescue

Everton striker Romelu Lukaku celebrates scoring his sides equaliser in added time. Picture: AFP/Getty

Scorers: Everton - Lukaku (90); West Ham Utd - Collins (56)

The Belgium striker’s smart turn and finish – his fourth goal in as many matches for the Toffees against the Hammers – earned a 1-1 draw and at the very least postponed another inquest into what is going wrong at Goodison Park.

Lukaku’s first in seven matches ended a four-game losing streak and ensured they live to fight another day in the competition after James Collins’ 56th-minute header had exposed Everton’s defensive Achilles heel – only QPR have conceded more in the Premier League this season.

West Ham were on the verge of their first victory in 15 attempts since 2007 against their perennial bogey side.

Everton’s current figures do not make for much better reading. They have won just once in the last ten matches and their last clean sheet came against Europa League opponents Wolfsburg in late November immediately prior to their current slump.

The goal was the least Lukaku, in his first start in three matches, deserved. It looked like the rest had done him some good as he twice forced Adrian to fumble shots, the West Ham goalkeeper recovering once to deny Kevin Mirallas on the rebound and then being bailed out by Winston Reid.

The Belgium striker also rolled an effort wide of the far post after he was picked out in the inside-left channel by an eye-of-the-needle pass from Ross Barkley, who appeared to lurch from brilliant to dreadful and back again in the first half.

Lukaku has been criticised for not playing like a £28 million striker but he was offering plenty to the team, with his brilliant ball over the top picking out Steven Naismith, who shot from such a narrow angle it beat Adrian but eventually rolled out for a throw.

Seamus Coleman, who just failed to connect at the far post, and Mirallas both had efforts before Barkley showed the best and worst bits of his game as a 60-yard drive at the West Ham defence ended with him passing tamely into the path of Reid as he tried to pick out Lukaku.

The visitors were not without their chances with Stewart Downing, who drifted effectively across the pitch, forcing Joel Robles to tip over and Morgan Amalfitano firing wide.

Everton’s opportunities began to dry up in the second half as, for all Lukaku’s good early play, the side were lacking runners to get beyond him. The visitors sensed their chance and after defender Carl Jenkinson had driven through the left of Everton’s defence, only to be denied by a good, low near-post save by Robles, they took the lead. Sylvain Distin, whose scalp did just enough to divert wide Downing’s drive, was partly to blame after losing Collins at the resulting corner but the defender was still allowed to get between Naismith and Muhamed Besic to head in at the near post.

Robles, deputising for the injured Tim Howard, did well to tip over Enner Valencia’s header while Lukaku’s own header was ruled out at the other end as he had climbed all over Aaron Cresswell to get to the ball. Martinez had labelled the match as the most important of their season so the significance of Lukaku pouncing on Bryan Oviedo’s cross late on could not be underestimated.

Everton: Robles, Coleman, Jagielka, Distin (Stones 71), Oviedo, Besic (McGeady 85), Barry, Mirallas (Eto’o 65), Naismith, Barkley, Lukaku. Subs Not Used: Kone, Browning, Garbutt, Griffiths.

West Ham: Adrian, Jenkinson, Collins, Reid, Cresswell, Noble, Downing, Amalfitano (O’Brien 78), Nolan, Jarvis (Poyet 68), Valencia (Cole 60). Subs Not Used: Tomkins, Vaz Te, Demel, Jaaskelainen.