The penultimate game at Goodison Park proved an occasion for relegated Ipswich to savour far more than their obliging hosts.Evertonwere two goals up and cruising towards a second win in 10 games when Julio Enciso changed the complexion of the contest with a stunning finish.
Substitute George Hirst completed the fightback by Kieran McKenna’s spirited side with a late header. This was a big opportunity squandered by David Moyes’ team. Everton’s energy and composure declined markedly after taking a two goal lead and Ipswich’s punishment, and point, was merited.
There was a party atmosphere inside Goodison for the final Saturday 3pm kick off in the stadium’s 133-year history. Initially, at least. The celebratory mood was in no small part thanks to Everton supporters group The 1878s, volunteers who have decorated the ground with banners and flags for the past three years and produced a magnificent display for one last time. Such was the pull of the penultimate Goodison fixture that members of The Russian Toffees were in attendance. They had driven 12 hours to get out of Russia and caught a flight from Georgia.
Beto was the most prominent figure in a fairly low-key opening in which Ipswich’s deep defensive block gave Everton more problems than their limited attack could muster. The centre-forward headed the game’s first chance straight at Alex Palmer, put a spectacular overhead kick over the bar and headed wide from an inviting James Garner cross. Suitably warmed up, Beto found his range with his fourth effort to give Everton a deserved lead.
Carlos Alcaraz created the breakthrough with a superb in-swinging cross from the left. Neither Luke Woolfenden nor Cameron Burgess paid enough attention to the powerful striker standing between them and Beto steered a fine header into the bottom corner. Former Everton centre-forwards Joe Royle and Bob Latchford, looking on, would no doubt have appreciated the finish.
It was the Guinea-Bissau international’s first goal in nine games and swiftly followed by Dwight McNeil marking his 100th Everton appearance with his first goal since September. The winger, working his way back to full fitness after a four-month injury lay-off, doubled Everton’s lead with an exquisite shot from 25 yards. McNeil was urged to shoot the moment he received Nathan Patterson’s smart first time pass in space on the right. He obliged with an outstanding drive that flew into Palmer’s right hand corner, the goalkeeper completely deceived by the swerve on the shot.
The threat from Ipswich to that point had been limited to Liam Delap making his presence felt on Everton’s central defenders. Having picked up a yellow card for a furious reaction to a Jake O’Brien challenge, who was also booked for the shoving match that followed, Delap clattered into Jarrad Branthwaite seconds later. The striker left Branthwaite in a heap with a collision to the chest but avoided the second yellow card that Goodison was baying for.
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And then, out of nowhere, Julio Enciso hauled the visitors back into the game with a goal of the season contender. The on-loan forward had squandered an easier chance two minutes earlier when cutting inside Patterson and Garner only to drag his shot wide of the near post. The contrast with his next attempt on Jordan Pickford’s goal could not have been greater. Receiving the ball 30 yards out, Enciso cut across a tame challenge from Idrissa Gueye and unleashed a magnificent shot that curled away from Pickford and crashed in off the underside of the bar. The strike was so good that Evertonians applauded.
Moyes’ team remained in the ascendency and controlled the second half without seriously testing Palmer, though Iliman Ndiaye and Beto were both close to connecting with McNeil deliveries.
The Everton manager introduced the fit-again Dominic Calvert-Lewin in a bid to seal victory but, just seconds later, Ipswich equalised from a rare break into the Everton half. The sucker-punch was delivered by Delap’s replacement, Hirst, after Omari Hutchinson had beaten Gueye to the by-line and whipped in a cross that looped off the midfielder’s boot. Hirst rose behind a static O’Brien to convert a textbook header at the back post.