Alcaraz leads the way as Grealish plunders stoppage-time winner to halt Palace run

On more than one occasion, Goodison Park was the graveyard for notable club-record unbeaten runs. A season before they were given the tag of “the invincibles”, Arsenal’s 30-match unbeaten sequence was famously ended by Wayne Rooney’s late wonder strike at the Grand Old Lady. 14 years earlier, Wayne Clarke’s poacher’s goal at the Park End had shattered Liverpool’s record of 29 games without defeat in the old First Division.

Thanks to another predatory strike in front of the new South Stand at Bramley-Moore Dock this afternoon from the less obvious figure of Jack Grealish, the tradition seems to have followed the Blues down to the waterfront. The on-loan star completed an unlikely Everton comeback when his outstretched boot ricocheted Daniel Muñoz’s attempted clearance into the net to give Hill Dickinson Stadium her first genuine injury-time “limbs” moment.

It brought Crystal Palace’s laudable 19-game stretch without a loss in all competitions to a shuddering halt and solidified the Toffees’ recent hex over the Eagles — since beating Everton in L4 to effectively end their Champions League charge under Roberto Martinez in 2014, Palace have triumphed in just one of the last 21 meetings between the two clubs in the Premier League.

Oliver Glasner, the South Londoners’ impressive manager, will have spent the journey back to the Capital wondering just how his side failed to inflict on the Merseysiders their first defeat at their new ground. In truth, they should have had the contest wrapped up by the 65th minute and punished their hosts for what had been an unsettlingly insipid display, especially in the first half.

Muñoz had pressed home Palace’s unquestionable superiority with a 37th-minute opener, finding the net after Tyrick Mitchell and Jean-Philippe Mateta had gone close earlier in the first period, and with better finishing from the French striker, it would have been game over in the second.

Everton, however, having somehow kept the score at 1-0 and inspired by the energy provided off the bench by Charly Alcaraz, finally got the crowd behind them with a more positive approach and, thanks to Iliman Ndiaye’s cool head from the spot and Grealish being in the right place at the right time, they turned the game on its head in the closing stages in dramatic fashion.

As Everton’s hugely encouraging start to the season petered out after the last international break, David Moyes has struggled with the indifferent form of his two centre-forwards. Beto’s ragged performance against West Ham last time out coupled with Thierno Barry’s encouraging work in the home opener against Brighton and the League Cup tie against Mansfield a few days later suggested that the France Under-21 striker needed to be handed an extended run in the side to see if he could stake a claim to the starting role on a permanent basis.

With Ndiaye, Grealish and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall making up such an impressive attacking trio, for his part Tyler Dibling was always going to have to bide his time for an opportunity to shine. His late cameo against West Ham hinted at the kind of impact he could make and he was given a first start at Hill Dickinson Stadium with Ndiaye moving inside to the No 10 role.

Where Dibling simply wasn’t able to make inroads against a solid Palace back line in what was an ineffective first-half display from Everton, Barry was alarmingly poor. The hold-up and link-up qualities that had exemplified his early outings were non-existent while, from a physical perspective, he looked completely out of his depth at Premier League level. The chopping and changing of the forwards, often at half-time, that has been a feature of the season to date is counter-productive to the Blues establishing any rhythm but on this occasion it was wholly warranted.

Ironically enough, with a more favourable bounce on James Garner’s wicked in-swinging cross after 34 minutes, Barry might well have put Everton ahead but the ball just eluded him as he stole in ahead of his marker. Instead, it was the visitors who took the lead just a couple of minutes later when they carved the Toffees open with ease.

Palace had already gone close four times. Yeremy Pino had forced a parrying save from Jordan Pickford with less than two minutes gone and it took an instinctive reaction save from the England keeper to paw away Marc Guehi’s close-range shot following one of a barrage of long throws by Chris Richards, missiles from the touchline that caused chaos for Everton’s defence all game.

Mitchell was afforded far too much space down Palace’s left but saw his shot from the angle graze the outside of the post before a maddeningly aimless forward pass by Vitalii Mykolenko and a sloppy giveaway by Idrissa Gueye let Mateta in to force another good save from Pickford.

Everton had left themselves far too open in the 37th minute, though, when Pino easily rolled James Tarkowski in the centre-circle and Ismaila Saar surged into the cavernous space behind him. That drew Mykolenko inside and left Muñoz open to receive a pass on the overlap and fire under Pickford to make it 1-0.

Moyes’s side had looked a lot less coherent and dangerous going forward to that point. A smart interception by Gueye had led to an early chance for Grealish but his low shot was tame and easily gathered by Dean Henderson. Mykolenko narrowly cleared the bar with an ambitious shot from distance and a lovely dinked pass by Jake O’Brien had put Dibling in down the right but his centre was too close to the keeper.

Having fallen behind, the Blues then had a chance late in the first half as a rare counter-attacking opportunity was given to Barry but he simply coughed the ball straight up to Guehi in the meekest of fashion, no doubt sealing his fate at half-time when Moyes turned to Alcaraz and Beto in place of Dibling and the Frenchman.

If Everton had visibly lacked intensity in the first 45 minutes, Alcaraz was determined to provide it in the second and it took him less than two to stamp his intent on the match. Robbing Maxence Lacroix of the ball near the halfway line, he turned past Adam Wharton and threaded in Ndiaye who delayed his shot and saw his scuffed cross cut out by Richards.

Henderson’s failure to keep hold of O’Brien’s looping header ended with Michael Keane’s shot being blocked before Beto hooked the ball across the box with no takers in blue as the home side finally started asking some serious questions of Palace’s defence.

The Eagles should have put the game to bed, however, with chances either side of the hour mark after Daichi Kamada had raked an effort across Pickford’s goal. Tarkowski’s loose touch was claimed by Muñoz who quickly slid the ball in behind both centre-halves for Mateta to gallop through but his attempt to chip it over the advancing Pickford was intercepted on the line by O’Brien and Everton gratefully cleared.

Then, after Keane had wellied a rebound wide of Palace’s goal, the Eagles were in again as Pino dissected the home defence with a slide-rule pass for Saar. Pickford did brilliantly to close the Senegalese down and prevent him from going round him but when the resulting shot deflected off Tarkowski and into the path of Mateta, he seemed odds-on to score. Thankfully he side-footed wide of the upright.

It was a massive let-off for Everton whose cause appeared to be hampered further when Keane was forced off with a knock. In response, Moyes moved O’Brien inside to centre-back, Garner back to right-back and introduced Tim Iroegbunam in central midfield.

Pleasingly, the substitute matched the purpose and drive exhibited by Alcaraz and after the Argentine had stung Henderson’s palms with a pile-drive from the angle following his own interception, Iroegbunam was instrumental in Everton finding their way back to parity.

Mykolenko’s speculative prod forward arced behind Lacroix but was tracked by Iroegbunam who was felled by the defender’s clumsy challenge leaving referee Michael Salisbury with no choice but to point to the penalty spot. With Video Assistant Referee Craig Pawson rubber-stamping the decision, Ndiaye stepped up, sent the keeper the wrong way and levelled the game at 1-1 with another confidently-taken spot-kick.

As Glasner’s side began to tire from their excursion to Poland to face Dynamo Kiev in the Europa Conference League on Thursday, opportunity beckoned for Everton but they only had another comfortably-saved shot from Grealish in the 81st minute to show for their efforts to try and claim the points before the match moved into an initial eight minutes of stoppage time.

However, when Mykolenko’s deflected cross from the Blues’ left fell to Alcaraz on the opposite flank and he guided it forward to meet Ndiaye’s run, the tricky Senegal international beat his man to the byline and chipped in an inviting cross. Beto met it with a powerful downward header that seemed destined for the net until Henderson blocked it with his feet, Muñoz swivelled to hook the ball clear but Grealish was alive to it and profited from his instincts to grab his first Everton goal.

It capped an almost improbable victory that an almost sheepish Everton scarcely deserved based on the overall pattern the game. It was, however, vindication for Alcaraz, who will feel he has largely been overlooked this season, and reward for some proactive changes from the manager, particularly at the halfway stage.

The international break will provide Moyes with plenty to ponder, particularly in terms of personnel but the ease with which Everton were sliced open at times should be a major cause of concern. While the centre-forward question appears to have been settled for now given Beto’s much more physical and effective performance in place of disappointing Barry, Moyes has a conundrum where Alcaraz is concerned given that Dewsbury-Hall will return to availability in the next game.

Grealish’s ineligibility against his parent club will make the next starting XI against Manchester City a little more straightforward in that regard but Moyes will have the right kind of selection headache over the medium term thanks to the Argentine’s exploits this afternoon.

In the meantime, Evertonians can take heart from the fact that what might well have been an international hiatus spent ruing five games without a win, they can toast their team sitting eighth in the table with seven games played on the back of an occasion at the Dock that was very reminiscent of the dramatic late climaxes that made Goodison so special.