James Tarkowski scored his first goal in over a year and repeated his famous Merseyside derby celebration as Everton ended a seven-match winless run with a 2-0 victory over Burnley at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
The centre-back headed the opener on 32 minutes before Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall added a second. Tarkowski cupped his ears after scoring, a gesture he used following his dramatic last-gasp equaliser against Liverpool earlier this season.
“I don’t score enough. The manager is always telling me that I should be scoring more,” Tarkowski said. “I finally managed to get my head on one. I don’t know why (he cupped his ears) really. I got a bit giddy and it was the first thing that came into my head. I thought I’d repeat it because I don’t score many and I better enjoy them while I can.”
The 33-year-old praised Everton’s performance, saying: “I thought it was a very good performance, and we gave them one chance at the end of the game. Apart from that, we were pretty comfortable throughout and controlled it well.” He added that keeping a clean sheet against a Burnley side that had scored three goals in each of their previous two matches was particularly pleasing.
Victory lifts Everton to within one point of seventh-placed Brentford, who currently occupy the Europa Conference League spot. With nine games remaining, Tarkowski believes the team can achieve something special. “We’re putting ourselves in a position,” he said. “If at the start of the season you’d have said that this was the position we’d be in with nine games to go, we’d have taken it for sure. We’ve given ourselves a chance to go on and have a really special season.”
