FT: Wigan Athletic 2-2 Everton
Former Wigan favourite Leighton Baines rescued a point for Everton in a thrilling 2-2 draw at the DW Stadium.
Baines (pictured) struck with five minutes remaining as the Toffees recovered from falling behind twice in a game that at times threatened to get out of control.
The Lactics might have lost their last three Premier League encounters but they made the perfect start here.
Kone heads home offside
Arouna Kone finished a neat move involving him and Shaun Maloney after 10 minutes from close range.
Replays later indicated that Kone was at least a yard offside.
If David Moyes had reason to complain about Wigan’s opener, his side responded in fantastic fashion.
Steven Pienaar’s shot from 20 yards out looked to be more danger towards match photographers.
Somehow, the South African’s wayward effort found Nikica Jelavic at the back post and the Croatian made no mistake to score his 13th Premier League goal in just 16 appearances.
Di Santo smashes the home side back ahead
Before the half hour, the home side were back infront.
Once again, Kone got the better of an off-colour Johnny Heitinga, then showed tremendous vision and cut the ball back for strike partner Franco Di Santo to smash past Tim Howard’s despairing dive.
The Wigan attack was providing plenty of problems for the visiting backline. Di Santo forced Howard into a smart save shortly after his goal and Kone’s regular movements gave Heitinga a lot of headaches.
The Dutch defender was subbed at half-time by Moyes and for the team’s sake, this was the correct call.
Both sides continued to have chances. Baines struck the woodwork from close range, Ali Al-Habsi saved well from Leon Osman’s clawing strike and Shaun Maloney fired a shot over the bar when in on goal.
Fellani lucky to stay on the field
Referee Kevin Friend was also in centre of the action, as he waved away regular penalty appeals and kept Marouane Fellani on the field when the Belgian looked to have elbowed Maynor Figueroa in the face.
Fellani was booked but lucky to stay on the field for his actions.
However, Everton got a penalty in the dying stages when Figueroa fouled Kevin Mirallas in the penalty box.
Baines is one of the most reliable penalty takers in the business and his spot-kick found the roof of Al-Habsi’s net to level the scores.
It was a proper Premier League match and a point was probably the right result, although Roberto Martinez will feel that this was a missed opportunity for three valuable points.
By Simon Wright - Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
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