Tarkowski Reveals Key Everton Ingredient For Last-Gasp Goals

James Tarkowski insists he was full of belief Everton would claim their crucial late equaliser at Brentford on Saturday – and says the Blues squad is a “resilient” group.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s 91^st-minute goal sealed a point for the Toffees at the Gtech Community Stadium during the 2-2 draw, a game in which Everton trailed twice.

Beto netted in the first half to cancel out an early Igor Thiago penalty, before the Bees striker notched a fortunate second on 76 minutes.

“I think we'll take the point,” said former Brentford man Tarkowski, speaking after the game. “This is a tough place to come. They’re a team level on points with us, so it's good that we didn't let them get away from us in that sense. So we'll take the point, considering we didn't play great.

“The league is so tight, it's ever so tight. There's a lot of teams chasing these positions now, so it's on us. I've said we need probably two or three special days to get where we want to go, so hopefully we can start that next weekend against Liverpool because that's what's going to get us where we want to be.

“We're in a good position. We had a massive win at home not so long ago. The break probably didn't come at a great time for us really, but it's one of those things and now we can get back to our home after such a massive win there last time and hopefully go again.”

The result keeps Everton in eighth place and in contention for European qualification.

The Blues have benefitted from a spirited and determined playing squad, says Tarkowski, who was also keen to highlight the impact of goal scorer Dewsbury-Hall and impressive substitute Tyrique George.

“I feel like we've got [resilience] in the group,” he continued. “We've done it a few times this season already, scoring some late goals: Brighton away, quite late at Fulham, so we've done it a few times.

“And I thought we were going to score, to be honest. The way we were playing last 10 minutes, the game got a bit open, but that was giving us opportunities to score.

“I thought Tyrique George came on and caused the full-back a lot of problems, which was good for us. The ball dropped to Kiernan, who is probably the one person we wanted to drop to because he's been so reliable this year.

“He's been brilliant for us this season. He's scored some massive goals for us, but he's just so reliable, so consistent. I'm glad it fell to him because I fancied him to put it away.”

The travelling Toffees were superb all afternoon, singing in the west London rain after the last-gasp leveller.

“The fans have been terrific this season,” added Tarkowski. “They travelled down here once again and they always travel really well.

“So, it was nice to give them that point at the end.”