With Brentford dropping points to Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon, the door to Conference League football swung open for Everton. By full time at Hill Dickinson Stadium, they had walked straight past it.
A win against Sunderland would have drawn Everton level with Brentford on 52 points heading into the final day of the season, with Brentford away to Liverpool and Everton away to Spurs, putting European football firmly in contention. Instead, a second-half collapse handed the visitors a 3-1 victory and left David Moyes to contemplate what might have been.
“We messed up big-time today,” the Everton manager said bluntly to Sky Sports. “We didn’t look like a European team at times in the game, that’s for sure.”
It had started so promisingly. Merlin Röhl’s strike on the stroke of half-time gave Everton a lead but after the break Everton were second to every ball, short of ideas and visibly running on empty, they offered Sunderland an open invitation. The equaliser just after the hour felt inevitable, and as Everton continued to labour and chase shadows, a second on 81 minutes and a third in stoppage time followed with depressing ease. It was less a comeback, more a team standing aside.
Moyes was under no illusions about where it went wrong. “Things didn’t quite go at different times for us. We lost a really poor first goal, but then we got back in the game and it looked as though, if anybody was going to score at that time, it was more likely to be us. And then we gave away a second goal, and trying to find our way back into the game, we lose a third one.
“Everton’s not had the opportunity to get in and around the top end of the league for a while, so I think that’s the opportunity I’m more disappointed they’ve missed,” said Moyes. “They’ve missed an opportunity to build a big bit of momentum here, to keep pushing on. Today showed we’re probably not ready for that.”
“The players have done an amazing job at different times, but it wasn’t today,” Moyes added.
Everton sit 12th on 49 points, and travel to Tottenham next Sunday.
