London, October 3 (BUS): Andros Townsend secured Everton a well-deserved point in the Premier League with Manchester United when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men faltered in the international break.
Just three days after Cristiano Ronaldo won in stoppage time against Villarreal, the Red Devils are back in action and looking to build some much-needed momentum.
Anthony Martial’s first goal for United in eight months put Solskjaer’s men on their way to victory, but Townsend pulled off Rafael Benitez’s 1-1 draw with Everton and frustrated Old Trafford fans.
Cristiano Ronaldo was surprisingly named to the bench, with the United boss making five changes after being made to sweat in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Solskjaer bemoaned the match schedule but his side moved forward as Martial scored his first goal for the club since February.
“Part of that was really good,” Solskjaer told BT Sport: “I think we started well, our energy is high, we created some good chances and scored a great goal and went into the first half 1-0, you’re happy.
“In the second half we lacked that advanced advantage to get the second, which is vital in a match like this because from the angle we have, you can concede five seconds later, so that was the disappointing thing.”
It was a well-constructed goal that was called off by a fine break from Everton that included Demarie Gray, Abdullah Doukuri and Townsend, who repeated Ronaldo’s celebration after he fired past David de Gea.
“To come here and perform the way we did, we were very close, very close,” said Everton manager Rafael Benitez.
“The chances we had, the way we were defending against a very good team, you should be really proud of the players and everyone.”
Even Everton thought they snatched the win late, only because Yerry Mina’s goal was ruled out by the VAR for offside.