Everton 0-0 Brentford: Toffees held to drab draw

Will Rooney reports from Goodison Park as Everton fail to beat 10-man Brentford.

Transcript

00:00Full-time miracle to St Park and a frustrating evening for supporters who were leaving the

00:06stadium because Everton held to a 0-0 draw against 10-man Brentford. Disappointing, you

00:12have to say, particularly that second half. Everton didn't do nowhere near enough. If

00:17anything, they were better. Well, if anything, they definitely were better when Brentford

00:21had 11 men. In the second half, Everton just could not break a robust, steely Brentford

00:31defence down. They lacked ideas and they ultimately got what they deserved. Everton came off the

00:39blocks really strongly and that was credits to Sean Dyson's side because Brentford are

00:43usually the team this season who get off the blocks quickly, but Everton created chances.

00:49Dominic Calvert-Lewin had two in quick succession. One was a real snapshot that produced a real

00:55good save from Brentford keeper Mark Fleck and from the subsequent corner, the ball was

01:01recycled again and Dominic Calvert-Lewin flashed wide. Dwight McNeil had a couple of

01:06opportunities then when he drove at the Brentford defence, but Everton were issued a real warning

01:11shot when, you know, on Whistler, Baird threw on goal, Jordan Pickford made a great save

01:16one-on-one. Yeah, Everton were the best team, as I say, in the first half and then in the

01:2231st minute, there was a massive moment that Everton couldn't take advantage of when

01:29Christian Norgaard was sent off for serious foul play. He challenged Jordan Pickford for

01:36a loose ball in the box. To be fair, there was a real appeal from the Everton team, but

01:43referee Chris Kavanagh was recommended to review the incident on the Pitside Monitor

01:48and he overturned the decision and gave a red card and you thought, right, what can

01:53Everton do here? Can they go on? Can they go and take advantage? And unfortunately,

01:57they couldn't. Idrissa Ganegea had an early shot, produced a good save from the goalkeeper.

02:03Vitaly Mikhalenko got in front of his marker and had a decent effort on goal and he put

02:09the ball over the bar. But then Everton were issued another warning shot when Brentford

02:14mustered a counter-attack and Keane Lewis-Potter based the ball on goal and again Jordan Pickford

02:19produced a good save from the Brentford man and Matthias Jensen blazed over the bar after

02:27that. And after it was Everton's fault, they lacked real spark and idea. Zillerman and

02:32Dye tried their best, so did Dwight McNeil, but they couldn't really produce much. Beto

02:37had a few chances after he came on. It was wasteful. They just lacked balance in the

02:43second half, Everton, and that's three games now without a goal. They've only scored one

02:49in the previous five fixtures now. They are proving to be too flit in the tap, as Sean

02:56Dye just said, that they've tightened up at the back, but they're struggling at the other

03:00end of the pitch now. And it's on him to remedy that, ultimately. They'll lose at the

03:07full-time, rightly so, because the fans are frustrated that they've seen a second-half

03:13performance that was pretty turgid, in all honesty. And Everton have got to improve in

03:19the final third if they are to pick up and ensure that they aren't in another relegation

03:24battle. So, we'll see what Everton can produce in training this week. They go to Manchester

03:31United, Reuben Amron's first home game at Old Trafford as Man United manager. That's

03:36going to be tricky for Everton, you would think. So, yes, a disappointing evening there

03:40at Goodson Park. Another disappointing evening in the final season, as the Grand Old Lady

03:45finished Everton 0-0.