Hull City snatch late 2-2 draw against Everton thanks to Belloumi's stoppage-era strike

Everton went ahead twice and twice found Hull City hitting back, as the Tigers ultimately salvaged a 2-2 draw at MKM Stadium thanks to a 73rd-minute goal. It was a Premier League match that started goalless but with plenty of noise around VAR, and ended up splitting the points between two sides arriving in similar form.

The first half finished scoreless, though not for lack of chances. Everton generated more volume of play from the start, with efforts from Jack Grealish, Thierno Barry and Michael Keane all failing to find the net, and in the 33rd minute they thought they'd taken the lead: Brennan Johnson put the ball in, but VAR chalked off the goal and the scoreboard stayed blank. The sides went into the break at 0-0, even though Everton had been clearly the better team in terms of ball control.

A back-and-forth second half

Barely into the restart, Hull City struck first. In the 47th minute, Joe Gelhardt finished with his left foot from the center of the box after a counterattack built by Sorba Thomas, and the stadium erupted for the 1-0. But Everton wasted little time responding: seven minutes later, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall headed home from close range after a corner kick delivered by Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

The match seemed to be heading toward a visiting win when, in the 67th minute, Thierno Barry made it 1-2 with a right-footed strike into the corner, set up by Dewsbury-Hall himself. Hull City, though, refused to fold. With substitutions already made, Mohamed Belloumi, who had come on minutes earlier, popped up in the 73rd minute to also finish into the top corner after an assist from Elliot Stroud, leaving the final score at 2-2.

What the numbers say

Ball control belonged entirely to Everton, who topped 64 percent possession and created far more clear-cut chances than their opponents. The gap in play is well reflected in the stats table:

That superiority also shows up in the post-match xG calculated from the game's shots: 1.39 for Hull City against 2.95 for Everton. Those numbers confirm that the visitors deserved more than a draw based on what they generated in play, though Hull City's efficiency with their few chances was enough to earn them a point.

Our preview had given Everton a 53 percent chance of winning, with 17 percent for Hull City and 30 percent for a draw, with expected goals of 0.74 for the home side and 1.45 for the visitors. The final result, draw included, wasn't far off that read: Everton was the more dangerous team as expected, but couldn't close out the match and ended up sharing the points.

What the result means

With this draw, Everton reached 10 points on the season, with a record of two wins, four draws and no losses in six matches played, sitting fifth in the table. Hull City, for their part, have 9 points with two wins, three draws and one loss, and sit ninth, just a point behind Everton based on the standings between the two sides. Neither side could claim all three points, but the final stretch, with two goals in just six minutes, was what gave life to an afternoon that had started with VAR in the spotlight and ended with both defenses under pressure.