Jack Harrison opened his Everton account in spectacular fashion in the 3-0 win against Bournemouth with a superbly-taken long-range side-foot effort and seemed to be a popular one with his team-mates as they rushed towards him to celebrate.
But other than the on-loan Leeds United winger’s wonder goal, what has been your favourite Blues strike so far under Sean Dyche?
We were asked over the summer what our Everton goal of the 2022/23 season was and I said for a “pick that one out” moment, I’d go for Michael Keane’s long-range stunner at home to Tottenham Hotspur to secure a battling point but in terms of sheer satisfaction, I think I have to pick Dwight McNeil’s stoppage time second to put the cherry on the cake in the 5-1 victory at Brighton & Hove Albion.
It was a highly-emotional day for all the Blues who headed down to the Sussex coast to see their side pull off an unexpected but emphatic and ultimately pivotal win in terms of teeing themselves up for survival.
After previously looking doomed, I wrote at the time that this felt like something big, something potentially pivotal, like the movement of tectonic plates among those involved in this dogfight. Everton hadn’t just shook things up on what looked like a day of destiny for the Premier League’s strugglers, they’d caused an earthquake.
From that moment onwards, it would have been criminal to surrender their top flight status for the first time in 72 years and the emphatic nature of McNeil’s late strike, smashed into the roof of the net before he saluted those Brighton fans that were still in the Amex Stadium, goading him from behind the goal was delicious. Maybe it’s because Kevin Sheedy was my boyhood idol but I’ve always had a soft spot for a silky left winger.
have fond memories of Ellis Simms’ goal at Chelsea. An evening game, under the lights at a famous stadium, and a goal before an international break that really felt like it meant something at the time. I was pleased for Simms to have that big moment for Everton.
I think it looked unlikely he would be a long term solution to the striker issues at the club but I thought he deserved some good moments after being brought back from Sunderland, where he was doing so well on loan. He should have earned an assist in the home game against Leeds United but Abdoulaye Doucoure missed the chance that would have doubled the lead.
He did get his moment though. His goal at Stamford Bridge was lovely, from the way he left experienced Kalidou Koulibaly floundering to the composed finish. The back story – of Simms having gone to Sean Dyche in the days before to seek advice on how to earn his faith – was an additional bonus.
It was also a goal that sent an away end that had had too few celebrations into jubilation and one that earned a crucial point. Going into the break that followed it was probably the last moment where it felt Everton might just avoid a scrap to the death for survival
