Yesterday’s win at Goodison Park felt good for so many reasons – we played fantastically, we made amateurs of a team 3rd in the league, and we shown the media once again why favouritism never works. And to top it off, we got a fantastic draw against either West Ham or Middlesborough at home, arguably an easier draw than the previous two we’ve faced, which could see us heading back to Wembley at long last.
There were worries before the match by looking at the squad – Anichebe was back in the squad, replacing the injured Fellaini (who still hasn’t grown that moustache), along with youngsters Dan Gosling and Jack Rodwell – the bench didn’t pack much venom either, with Baxter, vdMeyde and even Wallace warming the seats. Villa had Gareth Barry out through suspension, while crowd target Emile Heskey was out injured following the midweek whupping by the Spanish, but still had the threatening Agbonlahor and A.Young.
The Blues got to work almost immediately, though – inside the 3rd minute Tim Cahill, sporting a black armband dedicated to the victims of the Australian bush fires, had a header cleared off the line by Stilian Petrov’s hand – Martin Atkinson was about to send him off and offer Everton a penalty, but Rodwell was quickest to react to the illegal rebound, striking it high into the net for his first goal at 17 years of age- makes you feel old. It was considered as advantage to Everton, despite Petrov still remaining on the pitch, and the goal stood.
However, just a few minutes later Tony Hibbert brought down Agbonlahor in the box, with James Milner’s penalty squirming under Tim Howard, who never seems to get his body down quick enough. 1-1 after 8 minutes, with Jo arriving in the stands thinking it must have been a typo. Hibbert got a yellow card for the late tackle, while Cahill got one soon after for a handball (ironic) meaning that both will miss the Newcastle game next week.
In the past, Everton would have been brought down by this mistake – however, it just seemed to boost the team. Victor, usually regarded as slightly lazy, shown a massive burst of energy to plough through the midfield. He would have got through the defence as well, but was brought down by a panicking Steve Sidwell just inside the box. Atkinson gave another penalty, but this time in front of the Park End. Mikel Arteta was there to strike it in the net sublimely, sending Brad Friedel the wrong way. Everton were back in front, and controlled a late charge by Villa to keep it that way until half time.
In the second half, Aston Villa started to put on a little more pressure, and with their quick-fire squad always look dangerous – however they missed a flurry of chances, where the only decent chance of them equalising was when Tim Howard pulled off a fantastic fingertips save to keep out John Carew’s low drive. Definately more than made up for his earlier penalty mistake.
Although the Blues had control of the match, it showed that another goal was needed, esepcially after the horror show back in December. That decisive goal came about 10 minutes later, when Anichebe crossed the ball in from the left wing. Davies missed the ball, leaving Cahill to strike the awkward ball past America’s no. 2. This surely secured Everton’s place in the quarter finals, but instead of the usual flag boxing, Tim simply pointed to his black armband. The Aussie had been pretty quiet all day compared to the dynamite Arteta, but this was expected with getting back from Japan just yesterday.
Fair play to the Brummies though, as they still tried to come back after the killer goal, but everyone knew their fate was sealed, and The Toffees were sent through to the 6th Round. A fantastic performance by the squad, considering that both Fellaini and Pienaar were out, both boosted the fans inside and out of the Old Lady. And if we keep these fantastic performances going in the League and the FA Cup, we may very well have one hand on the Cup, alongside a finish above yesterday’s great pretenders.
All together now…
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If think im right in saying that if we win our next round the semis are played at Wembley. I am sure Moyes will keep them motivated.
However a great display to get past Villa.