AMSTERDAM — On a windy Wednesday night when Landon Donovan made his second Everton debut, it was Toffees goalkeeper Tim Howard who grabbed headlines with his first-career goal in a 2-1 loss to Bolton at Goodison Park.
The US No. 1 spent the first hour working in typical fashion, making highlight-reel stops on Mark Davies and David N'Gog look easy. In the 63rd minute, Howard inadvertently opened the scoring when a long clearance from his own area bounced over Bolton goalkeeper Adam Bogdan and into the net.
Unfortunately, the home defense then went missing and allowed goals just 11 minutes apart from N'Gog and Gary Cahill. Howard still became just the fourth backstop — and second American after Brad Friedel — to score in the Premier League.
Meanwhile, Donovan worked a decent full shift in his first Toffees match since March 2010. The LA Galaxy loan item tired toward the end, but registered a shot on goal and won two free kicks.
Near intermission, Everton had a penalty shout ignored after Sam Ricketts caught Donovan's back leg as he burst into the Bolton box from a Denis Stracqualursi lay-off.
The loss saw Everton slip to 11th place ahead of a weekend FA Cup visit from Tamworth and a Jan. 11 opening day replay at Tottenham.
