West Bromwich Albion vs Everton. Premier League.
The HawthornsAttendance23,654.
Saturday 20 August 2016 18:37, UK
Goals from Kevin Mirallas and Gareth Barry saw Everton come from behind to beat West Brom 2-1 in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
It was a Gareth McAuley header that saw the Baggies ahead in the ninth minute, and the Toffees rounded off a disappointing first-half performance with a delightful goal from Mirallas on the stroke of half-time.
But a much improved display after the break - that saw debuts for Yannick Bolasie and Ashley Williams - saw Barry head home his first goal since January 2014 to seal a first win of the season for Ronald Koeman.
Both sides are in EFL Cup action on Tuesday, but return to Premier League business at the weekend as Everton host Stoke before West Brom host Middlesbrough on Sunday live on Sky Sports 1.
West Brom came racing out of the traps in their first home game of the 2016/17 season, and Salomon Rondon nearly grabbed his third Premier League goal in three games but was denied by a near post save from Maarten Stekelenburg.
But the resulting corner saw the Baggies fire in front inside 10 minutes after McAuley shook off his mark in Phil Jagielka, powering to the back post and head home from Craig Gardner's corner.
Everton were seeing the better of the ball but were doing very little with it until the 24th minute when they had their first chance of the game, with Barry playing in Leighton Baines on the right before getting himself into the box to collect his team-mate's cross but his shot could only fire into the hands of West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster.
Ronald Koeman made a rare first-half substitution and brought on Romelu Lukaku for James McCarthy in the 38th minute and he did bring some attacking bite to the game, which Everton were able to captialise on just before half-time.
It was Mirallas who set off the move, with some lovely one-touch football between Barry and Baines before the latter found the Belgian winger in the box, who fired past an out-stretched Foster to level the scores.
Both goalkeepers were called into action early in the second half with Stekelenburg making a great save from Darren Fletcher's powerful striker before Foster made a near-post stop from Gerard Deulofeu after a Mirallas corner.
But Foster could do nothing about Everton's second goal on the stroke of the hour as a Mirallas corner found Holgate at the back post, with the youngster knocking it back across the area to find the head of Barry who put the ball into the back of the net.
Yannick Bolasie came on for his debut just after the goal and could have nabbed an assist ten minutes later as Barkley put his sumptuous cross just wide of the post, before McAuley headed wide at the other end not long after.
It was a fast finish at the Hawthorns as both sides looked to nab another goal, with Lukaku denied by Foster after some great work from Bolasie before the goalkeeper came up for a last-gasp free-kick for West Brom and fired just wide, much to the relief of the travelling Everton fans.
Player ratings
West Brom: Foster (7), Dawson (7), McAuley (6), Olsson (6), Evans (7), Gardner (7), Yacob (7), Fletcher (7), Phillips (6), Berahino (6), Rondon (7).
Subs used: McClean (7), Lambert (6), Leko (5).
Everton: Stekelenburg (7), Baines (7), Funes Mori (7), Jagielka (6), Holgate (8), McCarthy (5), Barry (8), Gueye (6), Barkley (7), Mirallas (6), Deulofeu (5).
Subs used: Lukaku (7), Bolasie (7), Williams (6).
Man of the match: Gareth Barry
