Radzinski to the rescue for Everton

It seemed like an idea borne of wild optimism last August but Kevin Keegan's suggestion that City might finish in the Premiership's top six no longer looks quite so outrageous after Everton escaped defeat through a stoppage-time goal at Goodison Park yesterday.

The header with which the substitute Tomasz Radzinski beat Peter Schmeichel on the end of a last-throw, route-one move denied City what would have been a fifth victory in seven away matches and enabled Everton to escape with a fourth straight draw. But it was more than the home side deserved after City had recovered from the setback of an early goal and apparently established a winning position.

Keegan's side had only themselves to blame for going behind to a Steve Watson shot in the sixth minute but thereafter were the more effective unit, particularly in the second half. It was not a match that will linger in the memory, with clear-cut opportunities scarce enough to be counted on one hand, but City created the better openings and gained the advantage on merit.

A cross by Ali Benarbia, whose clever touches always threatened to unpick the home side's tight defence, set up the equaliser before half-time for Nicolas Anelka, although Richard Wright bore some responsibility through his poor handling.

Seven minutes from time, after sustained City pressure had promised to tip the balance their way, Marc-Vivien Foé appeared to have done just that, meeting Sun Jihai's cross to place a fine header past Wright.

Instead, Watson's hopeful long ball, touched on by Li Tie, bounced just right for Radzinski and all wrong for Schmeichel – "an old-fashioned Fourth Division goal" in Keegan's view.

However, the message sent out was clear. "It says a lot about how far we have come and how far we could go that we have come here to play the fourth-placed team and been disappointed at getting only a point," Keegan said.

In retrospect, Everton might consider themselves fortunate to have been presented with an early goal. And it was a present, City's three central defenders somehow managing to look the other way as Watson slipped into vacant space on the 18-yard line, where Wayne Rooney spotted him.

Everton's burgeoning hero – later booked, for the fifth time this season, for a rash challenge on Foé – showed the awareness to pass the ball to his team-mate rather than shoot, having spun away from his marker, and Watson, with only Schmeichel to beat, buried the ball in the corner with impressive conviction for a defender deployed out of position.

In spite of the early goal, the match took a while to warm up, in some respects never doing so. Apart from a change of referee – the fourth official, Alan Wiley, stripping off after Andy D'Urso pulled up lame after 15 minutes – nothing much happened until City drew level, Wright spilling Benarbia's 33rd-minute cross to allow Anelka to stab home his 10th goal of the season.

It gave City the self-belief to attack with greater conviction in the second half, in which Benarbia drove the ball wide after a splendid link-up with Shaun Wright-Phillips, and Foé missed two chances before scoring.

Three points would have been no less than they deserved and David Moyes, the Everton manager, was honest enough to acknowledge the fact. "There was a sense of relief because the game seemed to be going away from us," he said. "All teams go through a sticky patch and perhaps this is ours, but at least we are not losing games."

Everton (4-4-2): Wright 4; Yobo 6 (Carsley 5, h-t), Weir 6, Stubbs 6, Naysmith 4; Watson 7, Li Tie 6, Gravesen 5 (Gemmill 5, 57), Pembridge 4; Rooney 6, Campbell 5 (Radzinski 7, h-t). Substitutes not used: Baardsen (gk), McLeod.

Manchester City (3-5-2): Schmeichel 6; Dunne 5, Howey 6, Distin 5; Sun Jihai 7, Foé 7, Horlock 6, Benarbia 7, Jensen 5; Wright-Phillips 5, Anelka 6 (Huckerby, 81) Substitutes not used: Wiekens, Goater, Nash (gk), Mettomo.

Referee: A D'Urso (Billericay) 4. Replaced after 15 min by A Wiley (Burntwood) 6.