Doncaster 1-2 Everton: Heartbreak for League Two Rovers as Arnaut Danjuma rescues the Premier League side with 88th-minute winner after debutant Beto cancelled out Joe Ironside’s first half opener
- The hosts took the lead on the stroke of half-time through striker Joe Ironside
- New £25m signing Beto scored for Everton just 28 minutes into his debut
- Would Mohamed Salah ‘do the dirty’ on Liverpool by leaving? And what about Man United ‘diving’?: Listen to ‘It’s All Kicking Off’ , Mail Sport’s new podcast
When new Everton striker Beto said he grew up dreaming of playing football in England, he would have hardly envisaged bailing his team out at the club standing 92nd of 92 in the Football League.
But in equalising at Doncaster Rovers after a blistering run and fine finish, the towering Portuguese forward marked his first day on the job by doing what no Everton player had done in three matches this season: score a goal.
It set Everton on their way to a first win of the season, after Arnaut Danjuma also scored late on, and meant an extremely positive debut for Beto a day after signing masks over the cracks of another dismal performance for the Toffees.
For well over an hour, they were outplayed by the team sitting bottom of League Two. ‘Sacked in the morning,’ came chants from the Doncaster fans at Sean Dyche, along with ‘can we play you every week?’ and ‘Premier League, you’re having a laugh’.
Dyche knows that an opening hour like this to any top-flight team would see them thoroughly dismantled but Beto and Danjuma’s late goals buy him some time and crucially give Everton their first win and goal of a frustrating campaign.
Joe Ironside opened the scoring for the League Two outfit at the end of the first half
New signing Beto came off the bench to equalise in the 73rd minute after coming on at the break
Arnaut Danjuma then completed the comeback in the 89th minute as his strike snuck inside the post
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Less than 50 seconds were on the clock when Doncaster gave Everton a serious fright, when Jordan Pickford gave away possession inside his own 18-yard box with a heavy touch. From the resulting corner, Joseph Olowu was unmarked in the box but got his header all wrong.
MATCH FACTS AND PLAYER RATINGS
DONCASTER (4-4-2): Lawlor 7.5; Senior 7, Westbrooke 6 (Sotona 90+4), Olowu 6, Maxwell 6.5 (Goodman 90+4); Broadbent 6, Rowe 8 (Roberts 70, 6), Bailey 7, Molyneux 7.5; Ironside 7.5, Faal 6.5 (Straughan-Brown 81).
Subs not used: Jones, Wood, Long, Faulkner, Kuleya.
Booked: Roberts.
Goal: Ironside 44′
Manager: Grant McCann 7.
EVERTON (4-3-3): Pickford 5; Patterson 4.5 (Young 46, 6), Keane 4, Godfrey 5, Mykolenko 4 (Tarkowski 74, 6); Garner 5, Onana 6, Doucoure 7 (Maupay 83); Danjuma 5, Chermiti 4 (Beto 46, 7), Dobbin 6 (Gueye 46, 6).
Subs not used: Virginia, Lonergan, Branthwaite, Onyango.
Booked: None.
Goals: Beto 73′, Danjuma 89′
Manager: Sean Dyche 6.
Referee: Tom Reeves 5.
Attendance: not given.
Pickford, wearing the captain’s armband here, was subjected to many humorous taunts early on as fans behind his goal chanted, ‘Aaron Ramsdale, he’s better than you’ at the England No 1, to which the goalkeeper replied with a sarcastic wave and smile.
But it was a sloppy start for Everton, who allowed Doncaster to get into dangerous positions and give the Premier League side reasons to be fearful. Captain Tommy Rowe fired over from a corner, while a lack of decisiveness in the final third let down a productive Donny side.
Zain Westbrooke then sent a long-ranged effort just wide of the mark, with Pickford scrambling, as Everton failed to lay a glove on the home team early on and did not have a single touch in the Donny box in the first half an hour.
Often with big teams in these tight away cup clashes, it only needs one moment of class to unlock stubborn defences and that happened on 41 minutes when Dutchman Arnaut Danjuma sprung clear on goal only to pull his shot terribly wide.
Two minutes later, Everton were punished for their lack of class in either penalty area as Ironside fired the home team ahead on 44 minutes after a defence-splitting ball from captain Rowe.
Fading blue markings on the pitch, which is used for rugby league matches, helped show that Ironside was about a yard offside but with no VAR to help save Everton’s blushes, the goal stood. How could the assistant referee not see the clear offside?
It sent the Eco-Power Stadium into delirium as fans of ‘sacked in the morning’ rang out towards Sean Dyche. His team had a decent chance at the other end through Amadou Onana, but then Donny counter-attacked and nearly extended their lead but Pickford denied Rowe.
Dyche responded with a positive triple-substitution at the break, with new signing Beto the headline addition alongside experienced duo Ashley Young and Idrissa Gana Gueye. Towering Portuguese striker Beto made an immediate nuisance of himself.
After feeling frustrated at the lack of VAR in the first half, Everton were left thankful for the lack of it on 54 minutes when Mo Faal’s close-range shot was heroically blocked by Vitalii Mykolenko. The Ukrainian clearly handled the ball and a penalty should have been awarded.
Ironside’s opener came as the hosts outplayed the Premier League outfit for much of the game
Sean Dyche’s side were yet to score a single goal in the 2023-24 season before Wednesday
Beto’s introduction at the break proved to be an important moment in the match as Everton improved
Everton looked slightly more cohesive in the second half but it didn’t hide their lack of ideas and creativity as Beto shanked his first shot in a Toffees shirt well wide of the target.
But minutes later the striker raced through on goal with blistering pace and slotted confidently and calmly slotted past Ian Lawyor, after Abdoulaye Doucoure’s clever through ball. Everton fans saluted their new hero with tribal chants of ‘Beto, Beto, Beto’.
Minutes later, Beto rattled the crossbar with a powerful header, and Danjuma joined him in hitting the woodwork less than a minute later as Everton peppered Donny’s goalmouth. It was a very impressive first outing in an Everton shirt for new boy Beto just a day after signing.
And then on 89 minutes, fellow substitute Neal Maupay found Danjuma in a dangerous area, with the Dutch loanee finishing well to seal Everton’s place in the next round with his first goal for the club.
The hosts began the day the 92nd-ranked team in English professional football at the bottom of League Two
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