By Nick Said.
Photo Credit: @premierleague.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles scored a brilliant equaliser on his debut with virtually the last kick of the game as Everton rescued a point in a 2-2 Premier League draw with Manchester United at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday.
Benjamin Sesko looked to have won the game for the visitors with an 88th-minute header, but substitute Maitland-Niles hit a first-time shot from 30 yards to preserve his side’s unbeaten start to the season.
United have four points from their opening three games of the campaign and lie in 11th place in the standings, while Everton are in eighth with five points from the same number of matches.
Bryan Mbeumo’s superb solo effort had put the visitors in front early in the second half, but Everton grew steadily into the game and Tyrique George equalised with a ferocious shot, before the late goals from Sesko and Maitland-Niles.
“It felt like a win,” Maitland-Niles, who joined Everton from Lyon on Tuesday, told Sky Sports. “We dug deep and managed to get a point in the end. The crowd were with us and we were fighting to the end and that’s why you get these results.
“It’s amazing, everyone wants to start off like that and thankfully I did. The ball fell to me on the edge of the box, I put my foot through it and it ended up in the top corner which I’m happy about.”
United will be disappointed not to have taken the three points in a game in which they led twice and struck the bar in the first half through Bruno Fernandes.
But Everton had the better of the attacking chances with more shots on target and kept plugging away, showing the kind of fighting spirit they will need this season with their wafer-thin squad following a much-criticised transfer window.
Matheus Cunha blazed over from a good position, while the best chance of the first half fell to Everton striker Thierno Barry from Merlin Rohl’s superb cross from the right, but he put his free header over the bar.
It took United a minute to score in the second period when Mbeumo was able to cut inside from the right and place his left-footed shot from the edge of the box into the far corner.
James Tarkowski’s excellent last-ditch tackle on Cunha denied the Brazilian a goal, before Everton introduced Jack Grealish in the 66th minute as he began a second loan spell on Merseyside and made a difference to their attacking cohesion.
George thundered the ball past United goalkeeper Senne Lammens at the near post to equalise in the 83rd minute. Sesko then looked to have won the game when he headed in Luke Shaw’s cross, only for Maitland-Niles to produce his moment of magic at the death.
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