Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall reveals his late change of heart prompted Everton’s winner at Fulham as he also played a part in debutant Tyrique George’s loan move from Chelsea
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall admits Everton’s winner came from his late change of heart and after a half-time dressing down from David Moyes. And the Blues hero has also revealed how the Blues boss sounded him out over the loan signing of Tyrique George from Chelsea.
Everton came from behind to beat Fulham 2-1 at Craven Cottage on Saturday with Dewsbury-Hall equalising in the 75th minute before curling in the corner-kick that prompted home keeper Bernd Leno to punch the ball into his own net on 83 minutes.
And the midfielder said: “I was going to go short (with the corner) because they only had one man out and it was me and Ili (Iliman Ndiaye). So, I thought: ‘We’ve got a chance here to create something’.
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“I don’t know why, but at the last minute I just saw it and I thought: ‘Let me stick it on the keeper’. We know they can be vulnerable from set pieces and luckily it went in.
“I’ve heard it’s been given an own goal, but it would be nice if they turned it around and gave it to me. One happened last week with my mate Noni (Madueke) at Arsenal, so we’ll see.”
One strike that is definitely going to Dewsbury-Hall is his leveller, which was a sweet moment for the 27-year-old who joined Everton for £25million from Fulham’s west London rivals Chelsea last August.
He said: “I heard them in the first half give me a bit of stick and it was nice to repay it in the second half.
“I enjoyed it because it was probably a bit of a frustrating game up to that point. But it’s nice when you stick in there and then one drops and you manage to put it away because I had one pretty much identical to that last week and missed it.
“I said to the lads: ‘Look, if I get that chance again, I’m not missing it’. So, I didn’t think it would come as soon as the week after, but it was nice to put it away and gave us a good platform to go on and try and win the game.
“This season, especially away, it’s a never say die attitude. The game is never finished and I think it’s a credit to the lads that again, we reacted well in the second half of the game and played probably a lot better as we were front foot from minute one after half-time and I think probably deservedly got the goals.”
Dewsbury-Hall admits that the revival came after a few choice words from Moyes, who was serving a one-game touchline ban, at the interval.
He said: “I’ll be honest, I didn’t know until Friday night that he wasn’t going to be in the dugout. I didn’t know that the booking he’d had last week for doing the celebration meant he was banned. So, it was a bit weird, but to be fair, credit to the rest of the staff.
“They’ve treated it really well and they were fantastic on the sidelines. It was almost like the gaffer was there and they were obviously in contact throughout the game.
“But he still came in at half-time, had some stern words with us, which was needed. So, his presence was still around, it was just like: ‘come on, we’re better than this.’
“We were way better than this against them at Hill Dickinson Stadium early in the season. We almost, not bullied them, but were just so much more dominant than them.
“We didn’t do that in the first half. But in the second half, I thought credit to the lads, we stifled them to not much and we deserved the goals.
“It would be nice if there’s a video of the gaffer when we scored the second goal.”
Everton’s latest signing George, who arrived on loan on transfer deadline day of the winter window, has followed Dewsbury-Hall from Stamford Bridge to Hill Dickinson Stadium.
And the 27-year-old reveals his manager sought his advice on the England Under-21 international.
Dewsbury-Hall said: “I’m excited by it, Tyrique is a really, really good player. He’s an exciting young player with a great attitude.
“You can see even today coming on, he looks comfortable. He doesn’t look nervous.
“He wants to show what he’s about, he’s got that, not arrogance, but good confidence. If he settles in quickly, he will be a big, big addition to this team.
“I had a little chat with the gaffer and told him what my opinion was. I didn’t really speak to Ty because it’s up to him what he wants to do, but I’m glad that he chose us. Obviously I’ve been speaking to him a lot since he’s been here about what happens here, what goes on, how we do things.
“He’s taken to it straight away, to be fair, from day one in training. So hopefully he’ll get up to speed quick and you’ll see some goals and assists.”