Everton 2-1 Crystal Palace: post-match verdict
Will Rooney gives his verdict from Goodison Park.
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00:00Full-time here at Goodson Park, Everton finally off the mark in the Premier League.
00:06A 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace, much needed for Sean Dyche's side,
00:11and it caps off a fine week on and off the pitch.
00:14Obviously the freeking group agreeing a takeover deal was a feel-good factor heading here into the game.
00:21That's despite Everton winless in their opening five Premier League games.
00:25They were playing a Crystal Palace side who were also winless and remain winless after six games
00:29because it was Everton who proved triumphant.
00:32But they had to do it the hard way because Crystal Palace took the lead in the 10th minute.
00:36Everton's achilles heel this season has been set to pieces.
00:39It was the opposite last season, but this season it has been,
00:43and Everton were punished from the second phase of a corner.
00:46The ball came in the box, headed back across goal,
00:48and there was Mark Gahey to deftly finish at the near post.
00:52The first half was a bit funny because Crystal Palace were by far the better team.
00:57They were dominating the midfield in particular, but Everton created the better chances.
01:02Dominic Calvert-Lewin, as a header, cleared off the line from a corner,
01:07and Dwight McNeil, as a header, nodded wide when he was in all sorts of spaces.
01:11He was a lot better with that.
01:13As I say, Palace were a better team, particularly in midfield,
01:17but Everton came out in the second half and were much better, much improved,
01:21and they were level inside two minutes.
01:23Dwight McNeil with a fairly wonderful strike from outside the box to pick out the top corner.
01:29Ashley Young did really well to win the ball, nipping and winning.
01:34He deserved credit there.
01:36Seven minutes later, Everton were ahead through Dwight McNeil again,
01:39his second of the game.
01:41Jack Harrison, who came on at halftime for Jesper Lindstrom,
01:44whipped the ball into the box and a real good touch from McNeil out of his feet,
01:49and then a composed finish.
01:51It looked like he was going to slam it home instead.
01:53He just gave Palace keeper Dean Henderson the eyes and just rolled it into the near corner.
01:59From that moment, there weren't a lot of chances at all for the rest of the game.
02:02It was a little bit of a humdrum, but Everton were quite happy with that.
02:07In the previous four games, they've gone ahead and not managed to keep hold of leads.
02:15Palace barely looked like equalising, to be quite frank.
02:20Everton nearly had a chance to make the victory more emphatic
02:24when Abdullahi Dekhore burst through on goal,
02:26but he just had the ball taken off his boot as he was about to pull the trigger.
02:31Big relief here at Goodson Park.
02:35All that's needed is a win, and now Everton need to build some momentum.
02:40They've got Newcastle here next week.
02:42That'll be a very tough game, but some winnable games after that.
02:46Sean Dyches felt that Everton's performance had been better than the results.
02:52But Everton need to pick up results, and that's a matter of fact.
02:55A massive boost today was the return of Gareth Bramford.
02:58It started a little bit rusty, to be honest with you.
03:00He lost the ball after about three minutes.
03:03A couple of passes he played, he thought, is that going to get there?
03:06But eventually, he settled it. It was magnificent.
03:09He really helped bring the best out of James Tarkowski as well.
03:13My man on a match before Tarkowski won everything that came his way.
03:17Everton looked a lot better at the back with Bramford there.
03:20You can see how much they've missed him, and keeping him fit will be imperative.
03:26A good afternoon here at Goodson Park for Everton.
03:30Finish Everton 2-1 Crystal Palace.