The Toffees deserved a point and got one late, drawing 1-1 at Stoke City.
Stoppage time found a PK equalizing opportunity for Everton and Leighton Baines delivered at 90+2. Stoke was livid when a Jermaine Pennant takedown of Leon Osman gave them the opportunity.
Oussama Assaidi scored a beauty just after half for the Potters. He was in the catbird seat off John Stones’ clear to the top of the 18, allowed two touches by the Toffees before firing a shot past a diving Howard to put Stoke up 1-0 n the 49th minute.
In the 12th minute, Everton won a corner and Gareth Barry came close to putting the Toffees ahead but his header popped over the bar.
Peter Crouch latched onto a header in the 19th minute before forcing it wide of the left post, alleviating a major concern for Tim Howard
Everton’s James McCarthy came to the other end and made a darting move atop the 18 before firing wide in the 20th minute.
Howard called on plenty during a five-minute spell from 30 minutes onward, with Charlie Adam and in-form Oussama Assaidi tempting the score line to no avail.
Captain Ryan Shawcross was shown a yellow card for a sliding tackle on Barry and it provided a 58th minute free kick for Everton from strides outside the box, to no avail.
Kevin Mirallas had hard luck for Everton, hitting the woodwork twice including a late-first-half free kick.
Stoke City: Sorensen (Butland, 45); Cameron, Shawcross, Wilson, Pieters; Walters (Pennant, 72), Nzonzi, Adam (Palacios, 82), Whelan, Assaidi; Crouch
Goal: Assaidi (49)
Everton: Howard, Baines, Mirallas, McCarthy (Jelavic, 72), Lukaku (Naismith, 81), Barry, Barkley, Pienaar (Osman, 72), Coleman, Stones, Alcaraz
Goal: Baines (PK, 90)