West Ham secure 2-2 draw at Everton

Posted Monday, April 05, 2010 by YAHOO Sport

LONDON (SE) - Gianfranco Zola hailed the never-say-die spirit of his West Ham side after seeing them twice battle back from a goal down to secure a vital 2-2 draw away at Everton.

Goals from Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and Yakubu twice gave Everton the lead, only for Manuel Da Costa and Ilan to move the Hammers a precious point closer to safety.

A delighted Zola said: “Myself and all of the team will fight until the end. No matter what, we are going to fight until the very end.

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“Today was a clear demonstration that we will never give up. To go 2-1 down could have been a massive blow but we reacted and it was brilliant to show that sort of character.

“I told the players to leave the pitch with no regrets and they have done that today.

“Today has been a great day for us and the result will give us great satisfaction. I was very pleased with what they did today and we will look to build on this.”

Everton’s made just one change to the side who drew 0-0 at Wolverhampton last week with Bilyaletdinov replacing Jack Rodwell.

And in a week where West Ham owners David Sullivan and David Gold raised the thorny issue of mass squad changes, Zola resisted the temptation to drop the bulk of his under-performing side, his sole adjustment seeing Radoslav Kovac coming into midfield in place of Keiron Dyer.

With confidence in the Hammers ranks at an all-time low, it was no surprise to see Everton roar out of the blocks. Stray pass followed stray pass from the visitors, as the Toffees pressed and on 24 minutes they were deservedly ahead.

Jonathan Spector’s weak headed clearance dropped invitingly to Tim Cahill who nodded on to allow the diminutive Bilyaletdinov to grab his fifth league goal of the campaign.

Everton continued to dominate but with the first half drawing to a close West Ham had a golden chance to equalise as Sylvain Distin brought down Carlton Cole for a clear-cut penalty. But Mido’s poorly struck penalty was well saved by Tim Howard \2013 leaving a disgruntled Zola punching the air in frustration.

Perhaps resting on their laurels after such a dominant first-half showing, the Toffees emerged after the break in lacklustre fashion.

After surviving unscathed when Mark Noble’s chip struck the bar, the Hammers got their just rewards on the hour when Da Costa scrambled home from six yards after Everton failed to clear a corner.

Substitute Yakubu looked to have won the game late on for the home side with a neat finish, but just minutes later \2013 and to the utter fury of David Moyes \2013 Ilan’s leaping effort grabbing a point for the Hammers.

Everton boss Moyes admitted he was disappointed to see his side throw away a winning position twice: “We didn’t play well today but to get to 2-1 so late on and not see the game out is very disappointing.

“We weren’t at our best today and we have played far better this season but even so, we looked as though we would hang on and grab the win but it wasn’t to be.

“I thought we got unlucky with a few refereeing decisions which might have changed the game, but it has been that sort of weekend, we have seen some poor decisions in big games.”