📅 September 6, 2026

Everton 2-2 Man United: Sesko Came On and Scored. A 30-Yard Debut Goal in the 96th Minute Took the Points Away.

By Mav Jones · Manchester United fan writer

Everton 2, Manchester United 2. United led twice, the second time in the 88th minute through the substitute everybody wanted to see, and lost two points to a 30-yard strike from a debutant in the sixth minute of stoppage time.

Four points from three games. Six goals conceded in three games. Both numbers are the story, and the second one is the bigger problem.

The goals

Bryan Mbeumo 46′. Fifty seconds into the second half. Kobbie Mainoo found him on the right, he went past Mykolenko and beat Pickford from the edge of the box with his left foot, low into the far corner. After a first half of control without a shot on target beyond Bruno’s volley off the bar, it was the goal the possession had been promising.

Tyrique George 83′ (Everton). Hayden Hackney, on the pitch for eight minutes, won a loose ball in traffic and found George on the right of the box. George hit it high into the near-post top corner and Senne Lammens couldn’t get near it.

Benjamin Sesko 88′. Luke Shaw’s cross from the left, Sesko’s header from the centre of the box into the bottom corner. Eighteen minutes after coming on. His second goal at this ground, both from the bench.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles 90+6′ (Everton). His first appearance for the club, on for the injured James Garner at 77 minutes, and a shot from 30 yards into the top corner with the last real kick of the game. Nothing to do with the defending. Everything to do with the two points.

Sesko answered the question

This morning’s line-up piece said that if it was still level after 60 minutes, the substitution made itself. It took 70, and United were already ahead when Carrick made it, Sesko and Dorgu on for Cunha and Rashford together. Eighteen minutes later Sesko scored with his head from a Shaw cross, the kind of goal Cunha’s false-nine role is not built to produce.

That’s three substitute appearances this season, one goal, no start, and a coach who said on Friday he’s “letting him grow into the season”. Two goals in two visits to Hill Dickinson, both off the bench, is the argument for starting him. The fact that the goal came with a tiring block and 20 minutes of space in front of it is the argument for what Carrick is doing. He’s been consistent about it, and the debate resumes on Thursday.

Six conceded in three, and the problem moved

At Hull the two goals came from set pieces. Against Ipswich one came from a cross and one was a stoppage-time consolation. Today both were struck from distance, by players who had come off the bench, and neither had anything to do with a corner. That’s a different failure every week, which is harder to fix than the same one three times.

The numbers underneath aren’t flattering either. United had 55 per cent of the ball and were outshot 18 to 14. Everton put six on target to United’s three. Lammens made four saves. A team that controls possession and concedes more shots than it takes is a team that loses the ball in bad places, and that’s what happened for the equaliser: a loose ball in midfield, won by Hackney, and one pass later George was shooting.

It’s worth saying plainly that United signed no defenders this summer, and the late reshuffle showed it. Yoro and Santos came on for Dalot and Mainoo at 84 minutes, Mazraoui replaced Shaw in stoppage time, and the equaliser arrived with three changes in the back half of the team. The goal itself was unstoppable. The 30 yards of space Maitland-Niles had to hit it from was not.

Moyes’s bench beat Carrick’s

Everton lost Ndiaye and Beto on deadline day, had their Balogun deal collapse, and still got both goals from the substitutes. Hackney came on at 75 and assisted the first. Maitland-Niles came on at 77 and scored the second. Grealish, on at 66, was the third of the three, and the noise around Everton’s window went quiet for an afternoon.

David Moyes made one change from the Bournemouth draw and named the same shape. He then changed the game with the players Everton signed in the last 48 hours of the window. Carrick’s changes produced a goal too. Moyes’s produced two.

Maguire, Bruno, and the bookings

Harry Maguire went down after 30 seconds, a clash of heads with Thierno Barry, and played the full 90 with a nosebleed. He was booked at 79 minutes for protesting after Bruno Fernandes was cut by a James Tarkowski challenge and left with blood on his sock. Fernandes played on. Shaw and Dalot were also booked; Everton picked up three, Armstrong, Johnson and Röhl, all for fouls on United forwards.

The Rashford against Röhl matchup we flagged this morning was won, on the evidence of the booking Röhl took for pulling him back after being beaten, and Röhl was withdrawn at 75. Rashford went off at 70 without a goal or an assist.

What it changes

Carrick’s Premier League record is now 13 wins, 4 draws and 3 defeats, 43 points from 20 games, and the first draw of this season. United have four points from three. Everton are unbeaten on five.

The Champions League opens at home to Sabah on Thursday, 3 PM Eastern, and the Manchester derby is on Sunday at 11:30 AM Eastern. Sesko starting one of them is the obvious next question. Conceding twice in each of them is the one that matters. The full fixture list is here, and last week’s match report is here for the contrast.

Source: Score, goal times, assists, substitutions, cards and full-time statistics from ESPN’s match centre (game 401879291, which blocks automated fetches so is not linked), cross-checked against the live blogs of Hayters and VAVEL, which agree on all four scorers and the 2-2. VAVEL gives Sesko’s goal as 89′ and Maguire’s booking as 82′; ESPN and Hayters have 88′ and 79′, and ESPN’s times are used. First-half detail (Maguire’s clash, the Fernandes volley) from NBC Sports’ live blog. Carrick’s record: 42 points from 19 games entering the match, per our report on his pre-match press conference. Post-match quotes were not yet published when this went up. Accurate as of full time, 6 September 2026.