Jagielka spoils Gerrard's day - Liverpool 1-1 Everton

Phil Jagielka's wonder-strike earned Everton a point

The Saturday lunchtime game was not full of quality but two wonderful strikes earned each team a point.

Phil Jagielka scored a dramatic stoppage-time equaliser to rescue Everton a 1-1 draw with Liverpool in the Merseyside derby at Anfield.

Liverpool started strongly and Raheem Sterling had the first chance of the game when he struck a low shot straight into the hands of Tim Howard. The hosts dominated the early stages and felt they should have had a penalty when a shot from Sterling appeared to be blocked by a high arm from Gareth Barry.

Everton were thankful to their goalkeeper for keeping them level with a good double save on 10 minutes. Mario Balotelli fired a swerving 35-yard free-kick that Howard turned around the post and, from the resulting corner, Adam Lallana lost his marker and Howard got down really well to keep out his firm downward header.

The visitors slowly came into the game and Romelu Lukaku stung the palms of Simon Mignolet before Leighton Baines got into the box and his pull back across goal was hacked away from danger by Dejan Lovren.

Liverpool continued to pose a threat going forward and Howard was called into action again to keep out a Jordan Henderson shot from the edge of the box. On 32 minutes Balotelli then wasted a great chance when he was unmarked in a fantastic position in the box but completely missed the header.

Balotelli was operating a shoot-on-sight policy for most of the first half and he put a curling effort too close to Howard on 43 minutes, while the Everton goalkeeper had to be at his best a minute later to thwart Sterling. Barry gifted the ball to Henderson who slid in Sterling, but the keeper was quick to come out and block the England winger's shot.

The second half was a bit cagier for long periods until Steven Naismith smashed a powerful swerving effort that was saved by Mignolet.

Liverpool finally broke the deadlock with 65 minutes on the clock after Baines brought down Balotelli to give the Reds a free-kick 20 yards out from the Everton goal. Steven Gerrard stepped up to take it and struck a fantastic curling free-kick that beat the wall and Howard, who did get a hand on the ball but could not keep it out.

Everton almost hit straight back but Lukaku couldn't get his head on the ball when unmarked in the box, and moments later Liverpool had a glorious chance for a second. Sterling nipped past Tony Hibbert down the Liverpool left and his low cross was met on the half-volley by Balotelli. Howard just managed to get enough on the close-range effort to flick it up on to the crossbar and deny the Italian a derby-day goal.

As the game went on Everton stepped up their attempts to get back into it, but Liverpool stood firm and looked organised at the back. It looked like all of Everton's work going forward was going to come to nothing as, despite having good possession and pinning Liverpool back, they struggled to really create any decent openings.

But in injury time Everton silenced the Kop as the ball dropped to Jagielka 25 yards out and the defender unleashed a memorable half-volley that flew into the top corner of the net via the underside of the crossbar.

It was a fantastic strike from the most unlikely of sources and a real goal-of-the-season contender as Everton rescued a point from the Merseyside derby. It might take a while for Liverpool fans to really come to terms with what happened at the end, but it was two points dropped by Brendan Rodgers' side.