Everton beat Brentford for first league win of the season
Everton celebrated a breakthrough first victory of the Premier League season at Brentford on Saturday with captain James Tarkowski scoring against his former club in a well-deserved 3-1 win.
After a first half of many missed opportunities ended 1-1, defender Tarkowski headed in off Dwight McNeil's corner after 67 minutes.
England forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who came on just past the hour mark,then made it 3-1 in the 71st off the leg of goalkeeper Mark Flekken as Everton emphatically avoided sinking to their worst start to a season since 1958.
"You can see the emotion at the end with the lads and the fans. It's been a tough start to the season," said Calvert-Lewin.
The victory lifted the transformed Toffees out of the drop zone and up to 15th with four points from six games and left Brentford, now 12th on six and still waiting for their first home win of the season.
Everton manager Sean Dyche, who had urged his men in the run-up to "play with a smile", felt they had pushed back some of the negativity.
"The signs have been there but you've got to change the storyline, you've got to score goals, you've got to take your chances," he said.
CONSTANT THREAT
Abdoulaye Doucoure was a constant threat and put Everton ahead in the sixth minute with a half-volleyed shot into the top right corner of the net after Tarkowski had headed on.
The visitors could have been two or three goals up, with Vitaliy Mykolenko shooting straight at Flekken in the 21st and Doucoure hitting the crossbar seven minutes later, but Danish international Mathias Jensen levelled in the 28th.
His low effort that went in off the far post sparked some life into a listless Brentford, who had record signing Kevin Schade ruled out just before the start with a
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