In the match at Goodison Park in Liverpool on March 17, Everton and Newcastle played to a 2-2 draw, but the game was not without excitement and controversy thanks to a couple of questionable calls by referees.
The two disallowed but apparently legitimate goals for Everton would have moved them up to third place in the league, instead of seventh place where they currently reside.
Everton actually scored in the second minute of the match on a goal from Nikica Jelavic, but he was ruled offside and his goal was disallowed. To add insult to injury, literally, Jelavic injured his knee on the play and eventually had to leave the game.
Leighton Baines did score for Everton in the fifteenth minute, handing them the lead. Several other Everton players came close to scoring, but the first half ended with a 1-0 lead for Everton.
Demba Ba scored for Newcastle four minutes after the half, in a shot that could have been easily blocked but was not, evening the score to 1-1.
Evanton then scored twice, but neither counted. The first, by Marouane Fellaini, was ruled offside by the line official, although television replays showed that he was not offside. The second goal was not allowed by the same line official, after the ball, headed by Victor Anichebe, bounced off the underside of the crossbar and crossed the goal line before being snatched away by the Newcastle goaltender.
"There's two goals that have been missed and we can't get them back," Everton manager David Moyes told his team's website. "Fellaini was onside for his and, if the linesman's job is to look along the line, you hope that they see the ball cross the line," for Anichebe's.
The Premier League does not currently utilize technology that can determine if the ball crossed the goal line, much to the dismay of Everton fans, but it may be introduced later in the season. It is first scheduled for use in a competition in March at the FIFA World Club.
This technology comes too late, however, for Everton fans, who watched in disbelief as the goal was not called.
Victor Anichebe did score a second goal for Everton in the 88th minute of the match, to gain the lead with only a few minutes to go, but Newcaste scored again less than two minutes later, to leave the game tied at 2-2 at the last minute.
"To lose the lead in the last minute was the main disappointment," Moyes said.
Everton fans agree.
Darcey Deeds is a freelance writer out of Austin, Texas. She currently has teamed up with Avila Soccer which is the leader in soccer training in Austin for both kids and adults.
