Despite a Man of the Match performance from US keeper Tim Howard, Everton now face a 2-0 deficit in their UEFA Cup tie with Fiorentina after an away defeat on Thursday night.

The New Jersey native turned away several high quality shots throughout the match, but received little support from his teammates.

La Viola opened on the prowl, and Howard had to latch onto headers by Pablo Osvaldo and Martin Jørgensen. The Toffees struggled to move out of their end all period long, with the American able to keep the game scoreless at the break with a top stop on Christian Vieri.

The hosts continued to threaten, and Howard had to be at his best to deny Vieri and Zdravko Kuzmanović on successive efforts near the hour mark.

Fiorentina finally broke through in the 70th minute as Kuzmanović buried a shot from 20 meters. Eleven minutes later, Riccardo Monotlivo added on, lashing home a clever Jørgensen set-up on the volley.

Everton return to league play with a Sunday visit to Sunderland before completing their UEFA Cup battle at home to Fiorentina on Wednesday.

Scoring
FIOR - Zdravko Kuzmanović 1 (Tomáš Ujfaluši) 70'
FIOR - Riccardo Montolivo 1 (Martin Jørgensen) 81'

Line-ups
FIOR - Sebastian Frey, Tomáš Ujfaluši, Alessandro Gamberini, Dario Dainelli, Manuel Pasqual, Zdravko Kuzmanović (Massimo Gobbi 76'), Marco Donadel, Riccardo Montolivo, Martin Jørgensen, Christian Vieri (Giampaolo Pazzini 67'), Pablo Osvaldo (Mario Santana 74')

EVE - Tim Howard; Tony Hibbert (Andy Johnson 73'), Joseph Yobo, Phil Jagielka, Joleon Lescott, Leon Osman (Mikel Arteta 56'), Phil Neville, Lee Carsley, Steven Pienaar, Tim Cahill, Ayegbeni Yakubu

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ON THE SIDELINE
US Under-23 call-up Freddy Adu missed Benfica's shock 2-1 home loss to Getafe.

Rangers scored an impressive 2-0 home win against Werder Bremen sans injured attacker DaMarcus Beasley.

Preston Zimmerman did not take part as Hamburg were edged out in the away leg 1-0 by Bundesliga rivals Bayer Leverkusen.

Johann Smith did not dress as Bolton were held to a 1-1 Reebok draw by Sporting Lisbon.