Injury time winner concludes the season

I didn't get a chance to watch this game today so this is going to be a little short. Here are match recaps from ESPN, Telegraph, and The Sun.

Everton supposedly dominated most of the match and had a plethora of shots and headers agonizingly close. Anthony Vanden Borre scored just before the hour for Portsmouth, but was inexplicably ruled offside by the linesman.

In the 4th minute of injury time, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov scored on an outstanding shot outside of the box that turned out to be the last kick of the game.

Here are the video highlights.

Everton 1 - 0 Portsmouth

Diniyar Bilyaletdinov scored an injury time goal to win it for the Toffees.

Full match recap coming later.

Everton - Portsmouth Preview

I took a couple of days off from posting since there wasn't really any noteworthy news. As I said in an earlier post, this game against Portsmouth doesn't really matter. We are going to be in 8th place no matter what.

Heitinga wants to play, but he is still recovering from a hairline fracture on his ankle. I would rather we not play him, instead of risking further injury.

Everton

Likely Starters: Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka, Distin, Baines, Anichebe, Arteta, Cahill, Pienaar, Saha

Subs: Rodwell, Yobo, Yakubu, Bilyaletdinov, Nash, Senderos, Osman, Baxter

Portsmouth

Likely Starters: James, Rocha, Mokoena, Vanden Borre, Sowah, Utaka, Brown, Wilson, Boateng, Dindane, Piquionne

Subs: Mullins, Finnan, Ashdown, Basinas, Kanu, Ritchie, Smith, Pack, Ward

Steven Pienaar wins Player of the Year (and other news)

- Steven Pienaar won Everton player of the year. Leighton Baines was voted as the "players' player of the year" (I know it sounds weird, but I took it right out of BBC Sport). Jack Rodwell was named young player of the year.

- Marouane Fellaini seems to be ahead of schedule in his injury rehab. According to Everton's website, Fellaini is targeting to be back July or August, just in time for the pre-season campaign.

- This rumor came out a couple of days ago on goal.com. Supposedly Moyes wants to get Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha (reportedly for £3.75 million). I think this is a good move, he is a very good young defender but he does have a lot of injury problems. One thing Everton is lacking is depth. The club's players have a propensity to getting injured, and this would be nice insurance.

-Everton's women squad beat Arsenal to win the Women's FA Cup for the first time. Nice to see the club achieving something, even if it is the women's team.

Almost the end...

Of the season that is. I’m talking about the end because next week’s match doesn’t really matter. We are already out of contention for a spot in the Europa League, and we can’t move up or down from 8^th place in the Premier League. So you can’t really blame me for looking ahead. But I’ll write a season recap post and a post looking forward to the future next week after the season is officially over.

The last couple of weeks of the Prem League have been a little less exciting than other leagues. This is only because the three teams relegated from the Prem are already written in stone (Hull City, Burnley, and Portsmouth). Newcastle and West Brom are going to be back in the Prem with a playoff deciding the third spot (it’s between Nottingham Forest, Cardiff City, Leicester City, and Blackpool). The top of the league is a little more exciting. Chelsea is in first while Man U. is one point behind for the league title. Tottenham is in 4^th place with a spot for Champions League qualifying, but Manchester City is only a point behind with two games to play for both of them (they play each other on Wednesday).

Now back to Everton news:

- Phil Neville is enthusiastic for next season, even if we don’t bring anyone else into the club.

“Eighth position feels like a bit of a failure. I honestly can’t believe we’re there, but you get what you deserve in the league, and the poor first half of the season has cost us dearly.”

“If we were a club on the slide that wasn’t signing players or producing young players maybe you would worry, but at the moment the way we’re playing football and how we’ve improved shows we’re moving forward.”

“It doesn’t bother me if we don’t bring anyone in because we’ve got a strong squad."

That’s a lot of confidence in our current team. I like this a lot, but injuries have always been the most important factor in Everton’s failure and we need to make sure we have capable backups like the elite teams.

- Looks like we are favorites to sign Jermaine Beckford (free transfer) according to this article.

- This news was out a couple of days ago but I forgot to post it. Everton is going to tour Australia in July facing a few A-League sides. Details are on this site.

Everton's slim European chances dashed

Everton and Stoke City ended with a draw in a sloppy game. Both teams had one major chance each. Stoke City's chance was an open shot by Rory Delap (48th minute) which was shockingly not even on target. Everton had a goal by Jagielka waived because Victor Anichebe was offside. The draw officially ends any hopes of European qualification for the Toffees.

All Tied at 0 at the half

Everton 0 - 0 Stoke City at the half.