Captain Virgil van Dijk’s header deep into stoppage time gave Liverpool a 2-1 win over Everton in the first Merseyside Derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Iliman Ndiaye looked to have put Everton ahead, but his effort was disallowed for Jake O’Brien being offside in the build-up, and just a couple of minutes later, Liverpool hit the hosts with a sucker punch as Mohamed Salah fired in decisively on 29 minutes from Cody Gakpo’s pass.
After starting the match brightly, the Blues took a while to recover from this double whammy, but they restored parity on 54 minutes as a cross by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was turned in by Beto, who outmuscled Andy Robertson to get to the ball first. Reds keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, making his derby debut, was injured in the challenge and had to be replaced by Freddie Woodman.
Everton were unable to test the substitute, though, and after Jarrad Branthwaite had left the field through injury, Van Dijk headed in Liverpool’s second goal 10 minutes into the allotted 11 of stoppage time from Szoboszlai’s corner kick.
Booked for dissent when complaining after Virgil van Dijk escaped punishment when bringing down Idrissa Gueye for the second time, he’s dealt well with a couple of tricky crosses from Liverpool corners and tipped a Gakpo shot over the bar but had little chance with the first goal as the home defence were cut open and will have wished his defenders could have held their nerve for just a few moments longer with the final set-piece of the game.
Did well to put in the cross that resulted in Ndiaye’s disallowed goal, but it was his offside position earlier in the move that caused the effort to be ruled out and while he looked decent going forwards at times, he needed to keep his wits about him when defending.
Improved after the break, making a crucial challenge on Alexander Isak having allowed Mohamed Salah to escape his attentions for the goal, while he’s often kept tight to the Egyptian in these encounters, his opponent, featuring in a Merseyside Derby for the final time, still has the class to make his mark as displayed in decisive fashion when firing Liverpool in front just moments after Everton’s goal had been chalked off.
Made a crucial block to deflect Cody Gakpo’s shot away after the Liverpool player got half a yard on McNeil and as you would imagine he was up for the derby battle, providing crucial leadership at the back but ultimately lost Virgil van Dijk for the visitors’ second goal deep into stoppage time.
While we didn’t see much of his ability to carry the ball out from defence in the derby rough and tumble, he showed his recovery pace in the second half to make a well-timed challenge on Isak, before being forced off late on in pain with more injury woes.
Came in for some rough treatment from Ryan Gravenberch and Virgil van Dijk, but didn’t receive much protection from referee Christopher Kavanagh and instead was fighting fires.
Some smart deliveries from outside, including the cross for Beto’s headed chance, he often looked to be Everton’s biggest creative outlet and always kept plugging away, although he picked up a booking for catching Jones after Liverpool had restored their lead.
Had to be stronger when giving the ball away cheaply to Cody Gakpo in the build-up to Liverpool’s goal as the Dutchman then picked out Salah to score, he did at least look more assured after the break and played a couple of neat passes.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall 7
Lovely bit of skill to chest the ball down and get past Ibrahima Konate to put the cross in for Everton’s equaliser, there was plenty of guile and desire in his display.
Thought he’d scored the first Merseyside Derby goal at Hill Dickinson Stadium after firing emphatically past Mamardashvili but his effort was ruled out for O’Brien being offside, he’s nevertheless been a constant threat.
Kept battling away and earned his equaliser, proving too strong for Andy Robertson while also taking out Liverpool keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili in the process having been earlier denied by the derby debutant who palmed away his well-struck header but should have done much better when one-on-one, only to fluff his lines and hit a tame shot wide.
Thierno Barry (on 73 for Beto) 5
Added fresh legs up front but was guilty of a string of loose touches as he struggled to hold the ball up.
Tyrique George (on 80 for McNeil) 6
Some bits and pieces of nice skill as he came on to play down the left flank in the latter stages with Ndiaye switching wings.
Michael Keane (on 87 for Branthwaite) 6
Late cameo at centre-back following Branthwaite’s injury.
ECHO Everton reporter Christopher Beesley has covered Everton and Liverpool both in the Premier League and abroad since 2005. He cut his teeth in professional sports journalism at the Ellesmere Port Pioneer and then the Welsh edition of the Daily Post, where he also covered Manchester United and Wrexham. Prior to that he worked on the student newspaper Pluto at the University of Central Lancashire where he read History, a role in which he first encountered David Moyes. Christopher is well-known for his sartorial elegance and even though he is now older than the Glaswegian gaffer when he first took charge of Everton, there is a running joke at press conferences where the Blues boss asks: “Is that your dad's suit you've got on?” He conducted 20 video interviews available to watch on YouTube to coincide with Everton’s stadium move, in a series called Goodison Park: My Home, which started with the club’s most-successful captain Kevin Ratcliffe and culminated with current club captain Seamus Coleman at Goodison Park itself. Christopher is the author of two books - Spirit of the Blues: Everton's Most Memorable Matches & Goodison Park’s Greatest Games, published in 2025, and On The Banks Of The Royal Blue Mersey: Inside Everton's First Season at the Dock, to be published later in 2026.
