The curse of the Premier League penalty taker struck Jermain Defoe last night as Tim Howard saved an injury-time spot-kick from the Tottenham Hotspur striker to secure a remarkable comeback by Everton. It was the final act of a weekend that witnessed four of five penalties missed in England's top flight.
David Moyes's depleted side had recovered from two goals down against Harry Redknapp's Champions League contenders when Tony Hibbert collided with Wilson Palacios inside the area to gift Spurs a 93rd-minute penalty. Everton were staring at a fourth successive league defeat and the visitors a return to third in the Premier League. But Howard, the USA's likely goalkeeper when England open their World Cup campaign in Rustenburg, thwarted Defoe and added the England player's name to the weekend roll of dishonour that included Cesc Fábregas, Frank Lampard and Aruna Dindane. Only the substitute John Carew of Aston Villa held his nerve from 12 yards this weekend.
"Louis Saha gave me a bit of advice to make up my mind and go early, but I kind of knew what to expect anyway," said Howard, who saved two penalties in Everton's shoot-out defeat of Manchester United in last season's FA Cup semi-final. "There's so much video footage around now there isn't a penalty you can't have a look at and my goalkeeping coach Chris Woods and I try to do our best to leave no stone unturned. I hope that's a good omen for when the USA play England next summer."
The Everton manager claimed he expected his £2m signing from Old Trafford to succeed against Defoe, on an afternoon when Seamus Coleman enjoyed an inspired home debut as a substitute for the injured Joseph Yobo. "I'm not surprised Tim saved it," said Moyes. "He's agile, he's alert, he's got ability and he works so hard at his game. The harder you work the luckier you get. I wouldn't swap him for any other goalkeeper at the moment because he is also carrying the team in many ways given the amount of injuries we have in the defence in front of him."
Redknapp was more aggrieved at Tottenham's inability to score a third after Defoe and Michael Dawson had established a comfortable lead than with his leading goalscorer's penalty. "Robbie Keane is our regular penalty taker but he was on the bench," said the Tottenham manager; "But you would still fancy the little fellow when you think of the form he is in. But it should have been game over before that. We defended poorly. Penalty misses happen. Look at Frank Lampard, who rarely ever misses. We should have killed the game at two-nil.
"We should have been more composed but you can't ask for a better chance to win a game than with a last-minute penalty. If the referee could have found a way not to give the penalty he would have done, because he was that way all day, but it was a clear penalty. Wilson [Palacios] has gone to hospital with damaged ribs."
Howard's save earned Everton a precious point in their attempt to climb away from the relegation zone, and Moyes was elated. "Considering the team we had out and we were 2-0 down it was an unbelievable result," he added.
"We deserved a bit of good fortune because of our fantastic spirit. It was a vital save from Tim and important for our season because we worked incredibly hard."n home debutant Coleman's performance, with the 21-year-old responding superbly to a nightmare full debut against Benfica in the Europa League, the Scot said: "I thought he was fantastic. It was a difficult night for him in Portugal, when he played out of position at left back, but he was in his natural position tonight and showed what he can do."
