By Jon Shea
The 245th Merseyside Derby between Everton and Liverpool went down to the wire on Wednesday night as James Tarkowski’s 98th-minute equaliser secured a 2-2 draw at Goodison Park.
Alexis Mac Allister and Mo Salah turned the game around for the Reds after Beto had given the Toffees an early lead, but late drama occurred in the final stages, with the game ending 2-2 after James Tarkowski thumped home a stoppage-time volley to spark frenzied celebrations.
Classic derby
A classic derby that will live long in the memories of both fans saw Abdoulaye Doucoure, Curtis Jones and Reds manager Arne Slot sent off after the full-time whistle.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk was left frustrated by Michael Oliver’s performance and told TNT Sports after the match: “The referee had a big part to play in the game. Certain challenges were given (for Everton) and others (for Liverpool) didn’t.
“I don’t think he (Michael Oliver) had the game under control.”
Clash of heads
There were an extra couple of minutes added onto the original five added on, due to a clash of heads in stoppage time, between Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite and Carlos Alcaraz – which ultimately helped the hosts to equalise.
Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford defended the referee’s decision to add an extra two minutes after stoppage time.
He said: “When Jarrad (Branthwaite) and (Carlos) Alcaraz went down I said to Michael Oliver ‘how long left?’ and he said 97 and a half and I think we scored 97:26, so it wasn’t that he played overtime.”
‘Mental’ match
Everton manager David Moyes described the thrilling clash as “mental”.
Speaking to TNT Sports, he said: “To score in the last minute is fitting. We would’ve liked to have won the game but when we were 2-1 down, I was thinking we weren’t going to get back into this.
“[In the] second half we had more chances but probably didn’t have the quality to get a good enough finish away, but Tarky (James Tarkowski) did.”
Tarkowski also spoke to TNT Sports about his late goal, saying: “I don’t think I’ll get that image out of my head in a hurry.
“A few months ago, I spent a bit of time with Jags (Phil Jagielka) and we tried volleying a ball for an hour and we didn’t score one!
“I just saw the ball going wide and thought why not, ‘See if it falls and let it rip’.”
Stepping up
Former Everton defender Phil Jagielka, working as a pundit for TNT Sports at Goodison Park, said: “I was devastated, thinking I was going to be asking where it went wrong, but you (Tarkowski) stepped up.”
Former Liverpool midfielder Steve McManaman, also a pundit for TNT Sports, said: “People wanting to fight each other and people trying to antagonise the crowd, I think it was fitting that it ended like this – in absolute chaos.”
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