Football Hunter Soccer blog

Everton missed couple of points in their bid for a Champions League place as West Ham made a well-deserved tie.

Yakubu’s powerful finish provided Everton the lead after eight minutes and he had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside seven minutes later.

But West Ham bounced back strongly, with Dean Ashton missing a superb chance before heading home Lucas Neill’s cross after 68 minutes. West Ham substitute Freddie Sears then struck a post in injury time.

The Hammers’ debutant James Tomkins almost made a dream start to his career in the fourth minute when he joined Mark Noble’s corner with a firm header only to hit the bar.

Woefully, his lack of experience was soon exposed when he was turned by the wily Yakubu, who showed pace and power to race clear and trigger an emphatic finish past West Ham keeper Robert Green.

Everton suffered a blow in the ninth minute when Tim Cahill, who had been in question before the game with a foot injury, suffered a reoccurence and limped off to be substituted by Manuel Fernandes.