Everton miss chance to go second after defeat

Charlton 2 Everton 0

Duncan Ferguson lasted just 10 minutes before he was sent off during the second half as Everton saw their hopes of going second in the Barclays Premiership ended by a 2-0 defeat to in-form Charlton at The Valley.

Talal El Karkouri had headed the home side into the lead when the Scot elbowed Hermann Hreidarsson in the face, and left referee Mike Riley with little option but to show him a straight red card.

The Charlton full-back had the final word, however, sweeping home a second goal to complete the win with six minutes left and leave the Addicks on course for the top six.

Both sides had played five in midfield, and so it was no surprise the opening exchanges were somewhat scrappy.

It was not until the 10th minute that the first moment of goalmouth action finally arrived.

Charlton winger Jerome Thomas skipped clear on the left, before his surging run towards the Everton box was brought to a halt when he was upended by David Weir.

Danny Murphy rolled the resulting free-kick to El Karkouri, only for Lee Carsley to charge down the Moroccan’s drive. The ball cannoned into the wall, back out to Thomas and his shot then deflected off Jonathan Fortune and behind for a goal kick.

The visitors showed plenty of work in the middle of the park, and got men forward in support of Marcus Bent often enough, but quality was lacking in their final pass.

However, a slip by Jon Fortune as he jumped into a tackle almost saw Everton take the lead after quarter of an hour. The ball broke to Bent 25 yards out and the former Ipswich man took a touch before sending in a low drive, which Dean Kiely had to touch behind at full stretch down to his left.

When Charlton finally delivered the ball into the danger area, Shaun Bartlett could not keep his six-yard header down.

The tempo of the match dipped significantly after the half-hour mark, with both sides again guilty of some sloppy distribution following what had been positive build-up.

With nine minutes to go until the break, Thomas Gravesen almost collected Tony Hibbert’s intelligent pass into the Charlton box. However, the Dane was well marshalled by Fortune and the ball eventually was cleared.

As the first half drew to a close, Everton goalkeeper Nigel Martyn was forced off with what looked like a pulled muscle in his thigh, which gave former England international Richard Wright a rare taste of first-team football.

Following the restart, in the 58th minute, Thomas had a half-chance when the ball fell to him at the back post around 12 yards out. However, the former Arsenal player snapped at his effort, which flew well wide and high.

Murphy almost released Dennis Rommedahl into the Everton box just after the hour, but his chipped pass was slightly over hit and ran through to Wright.

There was then a massive let-off for the home side following an Everton corner from the right.

Kiely flapped at the near-post delivery, with El Karkouri needing to hack the ball away from under the goal. However, it cannoned off Matt Holland and bounced back towards the line, where Hreidarsson was on hand to smash the ball clear.

Radostin Kishishev forced a good stop from Wright when he sent in a 25-yard drive. The ex-Ipswich and Arsenal keeper was again called into action in the 73rd minute when Murphy released Bartlett behind the Everton defence after a slip by Lee Carsley on by-line.

Wright, though, did well to close down the angle at the near post and make an important block before tipping Rommedahl’s cross-cum-shot over.

However, he could do little to stop El Karkouri when the Moroccan powered in a close-range header from substitute Paul Konchesky’s cut-back after Everton had failed to clear a corner.

The visitors’ day went from bad to worst when Ferguson, only on for Bent 10 minutes earlier, was shown a straight red after elbowing Hreidarsson as the pair tussled for position at a throw-in.

The Charlton full-back showed no ill-effects from the horrendous challenge, though, as he swept the ball home at the far post following a corner six minutes from time to extend Charlton’s unbeaten run to five games.