Everton 2 Apollon Limassol 2: Ronald Koeman’s men concede last-gasp goal to ten-man visitors as they’re denied win
Cypriots managed to fire in a header from a late free-kick to leave Merseyside with a valuable point
TEN-MAN Apollon Limassol scored a last-gasp equaliser to deny Everton the win in tonight's Europa League clash at Goodison Park.
Opposition defender Roberge had just seen red for a poor challenge on Dominic Calvert-Lewin before Yuste Canton managed to fire in a header past Jordan Pickford with just minutes remaining.
It seemed that Nikola Vlasic had made the headlines as he came off the bench at half-time to sink a vital goal into the back of the net with 66 minutes on the clock, but it made no difference as the Cypriot side nabbed a point at the death.
Goodison Park was rocked early on after going behind to a shock opener from the visitors.
Veteran Ashley Williams played a nightmare ball right into the path of an opposition forward who duly crossed for Sardinero Corpa to finish after just 12 minutes.
But Wayne Rooney levelled the scores just nine minutes later when he too was gifted a clear chance on goal by an opponent's clumsy mistake.
Despite the equaliser, Everton failed to build any real momentum as Limassol made their back-line sweat on more than one occasion.
But it was the introduction of Vlasic for the more defensive Idrissa Gueye at the break which turned the tide in Everton's favour.
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The attacker's movement in the final third caused a real headache for Limassol's defenders.
And his finish was the icing on the cake as the Toffees looked to have made up for their dismal defeat to Atalanta in the opening game of the group stage campaign.
But there was more drama when Limassol's Roberge was sent off late on before Canton scored the leveller in the 88th minute.
Everton had been on course to win three consecutive games in all competitions before that strike.
And Burnley are sure to be feeling more confident now as they prepare to visit Goodison Park in the Premier League this weekend.
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WHAT THEY SAID
Everton goalscorer Wayne Rooney: "To concede a late goal, it's hard to take. You want to win the game and we were the better team.
"The goals were sloppy from our point of view. But it's a point and we have to move on... but it should be three.
"They're a good team with the strength they've got, there's no easy games in Europe. We just need that goal to see a game off. We'll try and keep progressing."