Beto offers rescue act for Everton with late equalizer to deny Fulham | first division

Marco Silva has known nothing but success since returning to Goodison Park with Fulham. He was on track to maintain a 100% record at the club that sacked him in December 2019, and Alex Iwobi is also back to haunt him. Evertonwhen substitute Beto saved an unlikely point for Sean Dyche's side.

Iwobi brightened an otherwise forgettable evening with an excellent first match designed by Emile Smith Rowe. It was just a reward for Fulham and they look set to extend their winning sequence at Goodison until Beto, part of an unlikely Everton forward double act with Michael Keane, beat the rarely troublesome Bernd Leno with a 94th-minute header. Fulham have certainly had Everton's number in recent years.

After losing on their first 14 visits to Goodison Park, the Cottagers had won their last three league games here. plus a Carabao Cup tie on penalties. Silva's team once again made life difficult for the hosts, dominating possession in the early stages and shutting down Everton's supply lines, but in reality it was a terrible contest for the first half hour. A Raúl Jiménez shot that was too tame to seriously bother Jordan Pickford was the only incident worth mentioning.

Fittingly it was a mistake, and not a moment of quality, that gave the game a modicum of life. Vitaliy Mykolenko gave possession to Andreas Pereira on the edge of the area, allowing Jiménez to release Adama Traoré into the space left by the Everton left-back. Pickford parried Traoré's angled shot, but Fulham kept up the pressure, Pereira crossed to Jiménez and the Mexican striker crossed the goal towards Smith Rowe. The summer signing sent an awkward volley over the bar from close range.

Everton thought they had the lead minutes later when Idrissa Gueye's long-range shot hit the underside of Leno's crossbar and Dominic Calvert-Lewin converted the rebound. However, he was immediately marked offside and the VAR confirmed the assistant's decision, which was close. Dwight McNeil's header was then saved by the Fulham goalkeeper, while former Everton midfielder Iwobi fired in at the other end following Traoré's deep cross.

Both McNeil and Iwobi should have scored, but the latter made amends convincingly to give Fulham the lead they deserved. Not that it was a striking performance by the visitors. It just wasn't as bad as Everton. A McNeil free-kick floated straight into Leno's arms and a clipped shot from Jack Harrison as he darted into space on the right summed up Dyche's team's efforts.

But the trailer was out of context with the occasion. Smith Rowe orchestrated it with a run from the halfway line that drew him away from three half-hearted Everton challenges. The Fulham playmaker flicked a pass towards Iwobi, who received the same casual treatment from an Everton defense that backed away and encouraged his former teammate to shoot. Iwobi delivered with a precise and powerful effort placed inside Pickford's near post. The midfielder kept his celebrations subdued against his former club, but a beaming smile showed what that grand finale really meant.

Fulham looked set for a well-deserved victory, one that would regain momentum after defeats to Manchester City and Aston Villa, with Everton struggling to find a response. But four minutes into stoppage time, with the home crowd complaining about Dyche's substitutions and his team's lack of ideas, the home team conjured a most unlikely respite.

Iliman Ndiaye was one of the few in royal blue to trouble the Fulham defense and it was his deep cross that brought about the equaliser. Ndiaye's ball was brilliantly returned by Ashley Young and there was Beto, a replacement for Calvert-Lewin, to score his first league goal of the season. Everton's unbeaten run extended to five games until the death but, for Silva, this will have felt like a defeat.