Birmingham rally to draw 2-2 with Everton

Mar 13, 2010 - 7:17 PM By MARK HENDRY STATS European Football Writer=

LONDON (SE) - Everton boss David Moyes reflected on a match of polar opposites from his side, after watching them produce a sparkling opening burst to overwhelm Birmingham \2013 before sloppy defending saw them relinquish a two-goal lead to finish with a 2-2 draw.

Nigerian strikers Victor Anichebe and Yakubu both got on the score sheet in the opening 22 minutes to put the Toffees in the ascendancy.

But a quickfire response from Cameron Jerome on 26 minutes and Craig Gardner's first for the club seven minutes after half-time earned Birmingham a point.

The result does little to help either side's European ambitions for next term, and Moyes admitted he was disappointed to see a two-goal cushion lost.

Moyes said: "We started brightly, we got a couple of good goals and we looked to have the game in our hands.

"At times \2013 particularly in the opening twenty minutes \2013 a lot of our football was very, very good.

"But from a position of total control we have let in a couple of sloppy goals and that has been our downfall.

"We gave Birmingham a lifeline and fair play to them, they took it."

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish made two changes to the side that beat Portsmouth in midweek, with veteran right-back Stephen Carr and experienced midfielder Lee Bowyer both returning to the starting line-up.

Everton, fresh from thrashing Hull 5-1 last week, welcomed back influential midfielder Tim Cahill at the expense of the injured Leon Osman.

Despite a warm reception for their returning Australian talisman, the Toffees fans were soon singing the praise of their two Nigerian goalscorers as first Anichebe \2013 with a powerful drive into the top corner on 19 minutes \2013 and then Yakubu \2013 with a nodded goal from close range three minutes later \2013 put Everton in the box seat.

But despite appearing to be cruising to victory, Everton allowed the home side a quick route back into the match, in-form Jerome notching his third goal in two games by coolly flicking a Keith Fahey cross past Tim Howard.

The goal threw the game wide open, as both sides showed exactly why they harbour European ambitions for next season.

Everton appeared to have weathered the storm as they made it through to half-time with their lead intact, but just seven minutes after the restart, Gardner struck, latching onto Jerome's flick-on to bury low past Howard.

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish was pleased with his side's reaction to a poor start, and refused to rule out a Europa League finish after a fantastic year for his side.

McLeish said: "Everton came here on fire, but St Andrew's is a tough place to come and we scrapped hard and matched them.

"We had to up the tempo after the poor start we had, because we were very pedestrian in the first 20 minutes.

"We were getting no penetration and we weren't getting the ball to the forwards, but once we sorted that side of our play out I thought Cameron Jerome led the line brilliantly.

"That was the best I've seen him play for Birmingham and he was a real handful for their defence.

"I still feel that we're short of strength-in-depth and experience in terms of Europe, but as we proved today we'll keep going to the end. That position is still up for grabs."