Mohamed Belloumi left the bench to spare Hull City a losing start to life back among the goals at the MKM Stadium, striking late to complete a 2-2 draw with Everton in round six of the Premier League.
The Tigers had led through Joe Gelhardt, only for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Thierno Barry to swing the contest Everton’s way before Belloumi intervened.
Everton carved out the better openings before the break and believed they had broken the deadlock when Brennan Johnson found the net following a corner. The goal was ruled out after a VAR review, and the teams went in level at the interval, with Michael Salisbury the referee for the afternoon.
Hull needed only three minutes of the second half to make the breakthrough. Gelhardt pounced on some poor Everton defending to put the hosts in front on 48 minutes.
David Moyes’ side answered quickly. Dewsbury-Hall restored parity in the 55th minute as the visitors began to take a grip on proceedings, and the turnaround was complete on 68 minutes when Barry scored to continue his impressive start to the Premier League campaign.
The Toffees could not hold what they had. Just six minutes after Barry’s goal, substitute Belloumi found space inside the penalty area and finished from close range to make it 2-2.
Both sides pushed for another goal in the closing stages, but neither could find a winner.
A point apiece leaves Hull reflecting on a fightback built on a quick response to adversity, while Everton will rue the six minutes that separated Barry’s goal from Belloumi’s equaliser. Neither team could conjure a late winner, and the spoils were shared at the MKM Stadium.