Baines spot-on but Martinez rues dropped points

Stoke City 1 Everton 1

Martinez’s team, who had hit the woodwork twice through Kevin Mirallas in the first half, trailed by a goal from on-loan Liverpool winger Oussama Assaidi. And for all their second half pressure, they had struggled to test Stoke’s substitute goalkeeper Jack Butland, making his Premier League debut as a half-time replacement for Thomas Sorensen 17 months after winning his first England cap.

But after Erik Pieters made a string of blocks for the hosts, Stoke’s Jermaine Pennant was rightly penalised for a stupid lunge at Leon Osman in the area and Baines guided in the penalty.

It stopped Everton slipping to a third Premier League defeat of the season and was an impressive response from Osman, whose error led to Tim Howard being sent off and his team conceding a decisive penalty in the Blues’ 1-0 home defeat on St Stephen’s Day.

Martinez’s dissatisfaction at a draw in such circumstances says it all about his ambitions for Everton, who had Antolin Alcaraz and John Stones playing at centre-back due to injuries to Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin.

“We weren’t at our best by any stretch of the imagination but what we showed was an incredible, incredible reaction,” said Martinez, who expects to be without Distin for a week and a half due to a hamstring problem, said.

“Once we conceded the goal, we forced Stoke back into their own box. What pleased me was that we didn’t play into their hands, they had nine players defending in the box and it would have been all too easy to become predictable.

“To have then had two balls cleared off the line and win the penalty thanks to the magic feet of Leon Osman, was a good reward and has left me left me feeling we have dropped two points.

“The way Leon has coped with what happened over Christmas is magnificent. I’m delighted with him.”

In foul conditions, Everton coped well with the direct pressure from Stoke in the opening period, other than Alcaraz losing Peter Crouch only for the striker to glance wide from a cross from Jonathan Walters, playing in front of the watching Roy Keane.

The visitors might have moved ahead when Mirallas drifted inside Geoff Cameron and thumped a shot on to the post and, having laid on another good chance for Ross Barkley, the Belgium winger hit a free-kick against the post.

Stoke made the breakthrough four minutes after the interval when Stones headed Glenn Whelan’s cross to the edge of the area and Assaidi drove in for his third goal of a loan spell from Liverpool.

But Everton piled forward and were denied on a string of occasions by blocks from the impressive Dutch defender Erik Pieters.

Butland’s only work was gathering a weak long-range effort from Romelu Lukaku and the hosts looked set for a third home win on the trot until Pennant’s bizarre attempt to tackle Osman in the area allowed Baines to convert from the spot.

STOKE (4-5-1): Sorensen 6 (Butland 46, 6); Cameron 7, Shawcross 7, Wilson 7, Pieters 7; Walters 7 (Pennant 72, 4), Nzonzi 6, Adam 7 (Palacios 81, 6), Whelan 6, Assaidi 8; Crouch 6.

EVERTON (4-2-3-1): Howard 6; Coleman 6, Stones 7, Alcaraz 7, Baines 7; McCarthy 6 (Osman 72, 6), Barry 7; Mirallas 7, Barkley, Pienaar 7 (Jelavic 72, 6); Lukaku 5 (Naismith 82, 6).

Referee: Andre Marriner (W Midlands).