10-man Apollon earn hard-fought draw at Everton

Everton were looking to kick-start their Europa League campaign after failing to produce at Atalanta in gameweek 1, while Apollon were looking to build on their strong home draw against Lyon.

To the surprise of an expecting Everton crowd, it was the visitors who took the lead after 13 minutes. A poor pass from experienced centre-back Williams fell straight into the path of Jakolis, who made a positive down the right before whipping in a delightful cross into the middle. Adrian lost Holgate and saw his first effort well saved by Pickford, but was there to tap in the rebound from five yards.

Everton were handed the equaliser by Yuste eight minutes later. The Apollon defender turned back towards his goal under pressure, but did not lift his head before trying to pass back to Bruno Vale in the Apollon goal. Rooney showed his striker’s instinct and latched onto the wayward pass, allowing him to easily tap in from inside the box.

The former Manchester United man failed to make contact with an acrobatic effort minutes later, Sigurdsson then latched onto the loose ball but his shot was straight at Vale.

Sandro, who looked to be lacking confidence throughout the majority of the first half, showed a glimpse of his quality when he beat his man down the left and cut inside before firing just over.

Davies saw a long range effort saved by the Apolon goalkeeper just before half-time. He cut in from the left and unleashed a powerful strike that looked to be heading into the top corner. Vale, however, watched carefully and did well to punch away.

The final action of the half was a tasty looking Everton free-kick just outside the area. Set-piece specialist Sigurdsson stepped up and tried to whip it into the bottom corner, but Vale pushed clear.

Ronald Koeman's men were greeted by a huge roar from the Goodison crowd as they walked out for the second 45, but made no real response in the opening 10 minutes of the half.

The only opportunity came for Apollon, when Adrian let fly from 25 yards, but Pickford reacted quickly to palm away.

Everton did begin to step up the tempo and were rewarded after 66 minutes. Sigurdsson poked a clever ball in behind for substitute Vlasic, who sprinted past two defenders and finished neatly at the near post.

The introduction of Calvert-Lewin and his pace gave Apollon a real problem in the last 20 minutes. He expertly controlled a long range pass from Rooney before cutting in and whipping an effort just wide of the far post.

Sigurdsson turned on the style with seven minutes to play and played fizzed a sublime reverse ball to Kenny on the overlap. He had a go but Yuste flew in to make a superb block.

Everton were looking to close out the game and looked even more likely to earn the three points when Roberge was shown a straight red card. Calvert-Lewin was on the ground and the former Sunderland man went in with his studs showing, giving the referee an easy decision.

However, the ten men of Apollon did not lose faith and found an equaliser in the dying minutes. Klassen gave away a silly free-kick allowing the visitors to whip in one final free-kick. Yuste, who made the mistake to hand Rooney Everton’s first goal, made amends and met a sensational delivery to flick a header past Pickford.

Koeman did not look happy as the final whistle blew and his team now face an uphill task if they are to qualify for the Europa League knockout stages. Apollon, on the other hand, can be incredibly proud of their efforts and now boast an unexpected two points from matches against Lyon and Everton.