Upon how finely a balance can a match of football swing.
When Romelu Lukaku stepped up to attempt to convert a penalty, one which if successfully dispatched would have put Everton up by three goals, he didn’t know exactly how crucial his scuffed miss would be. In the grand scheme of things, his side were already 2-0 up, just needing to defend which, even with 10 men, would be only a little harder than normal. A miss, from this perspective, would not be disastrous. So his run-up was a little casual, with the irritating stutter-step that – unless you’re Neymar or Messi – breeds ill-technique, and his shot was scratched into the turf. The foul from which the penalty was earned actually may have occurred just outside the box, as it happens.
That moment when you win 3-2 and you saved a penalty at 0-2 down… #WHUFC #EVEWHU pic.twitter.com/gvBtmxm0HD
— West Ham United FC (@whufc_official) 5 March 2016
As Adrian, something of a penalty expert, sprung up elated having made the save, perhaps it was this piece of micro-theatre that spurred the Hammers on that extra little bit. It was from the spring in Adrian’s leap that Michail Antonio gained that extra little burst to nod home West Ham’s first goal. It was from the joy in Adrian’s roar that Diafra Sakho took his inspiration to head home the equaliser. And perhaps it was from all of this, a cumulative, bloody surge, that Dimitri Payet sought the energy to make that final run into the box, to slot home the winner. Momentum is such a fickle mistress, and Everton were unable to stem the flow of it, as it rushed from them and into the arteries of those in claret and blue.
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