English Premiership
Norwich earn draw at Everton
2012-11-24 19:30
Liverpool - Sebastien Bassong scored in the last
minute to earn Norwich City a 1-1 draw at Everton on Saturday that
prevented the hosts from making ground on the top four.
David
Moyes' side would have been a point behind fourth-placed Chelsea if they
had won, but Bassong's dramatic late intervention cancelled out Steven
Naismith's 12th-minute opener to leave Everton frustrated.
Norwich,
who beat Manchester United 1-0 last weekend, are now unbeaten in six
matches, while Everton have won just one of their last seven league
games.
Costa Rican midfielder Brian Oviedo made his first start
for Everton since joining from FC Copenhagen and he made a quick
impression by creating the opening goal at Goodison Park.
After
chesting down a long ball on the Everton left, Oviedo stole past Steven
Whittaker and then cut the ball back for Naismith to tap in his third
goal in three Premier League starts.
It was the first goal Norwich
had conceded in over 345 minutes of league football, following clean
sheets in their three previous outings.
Everton came close to a
second goal on several occasions, with John Ruddy saving from Leighton
Baines and Naismith and twice thwarting Leon Osman.
Norwich
striker Grant Holt screwed a shot wide after bludgeoning his way to the
edge of the Everton area, while Bassong put a header fractionally wide
from a Robert Snodgrass corner in the 41st minute.
The visitors
redoubled their efforts to find an equaliser in the second half, with
Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard obliged to parry an Anthony Pilkington
free-kick just before the hour.
John Heitinga then had to slide in to clear the ball off his own goal-line after Snodgrass beat Howard from Holt's through-ball.
Baines
stung Ruddy's palms in the 74th minute after surging into the penalty
area but Everton appeared to have done enough, only for Bassong to
strike in injury time.
Javier Garrido's deep free-kick fell at the
back post and Bassong met it with a strong header that hit the
underside of the bar and dropped over the line, with Holt following in
to make sure.