Season › 2011-12 › News

Stymied Blues taken to unwanted replay

Everton 1 - 1 Sunderland

David Moyes named exactly the same starting XI as had beaten Spurs on this ground seven days ago, fewer than half of them starting in the regrettable B-team line-up chosen for that dreadful midweek capitulation at Anfield. Confirmation, for any still doubting that Moyes deliberately dropped most of his strongest players for one of the most important league games of the season, and had no regrets for doing so. Only a win today would come close to easing the pain of that lasting embarrassment... but it was not to be.

The game got off to a lively start with Sunderland going out strong and putting Everton to the sword. The Blues responded in kind but were denied a penalty when Drenthe was blocked on the edge of the area. At the other end, a quick free kick took Everton by surprise and Bardsley drove a good low shot through a crowd of players, into the corner of Howard's net after just 12 minutes.

Everton were stunned but recovered with Drenthe making probing runs that were not really getting close enough. Fellaini slashed one in from distance but was guilty of giving the ball away too often. But Baines finally got some space to swing in a good cross that met Jelevic's head, and Cahill was alert to divert it in to the Sunderland net with his head for a vital equalizer.

Both sides kept up the pace but there were no further goals before the break, and the tie continued after break but at a somewhat less frenetic pace that dengerated into huff and puff when Moyes finally replaced the seriously flagging Drenthe with El Traca for the final 5 minutes.

Everton finally applied some pressure and created a couple of better chances, Heitinga forcing a vital save by Mignolet who somehow blocked Jelavic's close range follow-up.

In the end, the second-half was something of a non-event, which underlined Everton's perennial failure as an attacking side under David Moyes, lacking the guile to break down a stubborn Sunderland defence, and so to a replay that surely nobody in Blue wanted.

Quotes or other material sourced from ToffeWeb Match Report Page

• Post-Match Discussion
• Match report

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