Match Report

Everton dragged themselves into the FA Cup Fourth Round thanks to an Andros Townsend strike in extra-time that removed the threat of another cup exit on penalties under Rafael Benitez.

In what was a contest largely settled by the respective goalkeepers, Nathan Baxter's positioning mistake allowed Townsend to belt home what proved to be the winner and Asmir Begovic pulled of a brilliant save at the other end to ensure the Toffees avoided against Hull the fate that befell them at QPR in the Carabao Cup back in September.

Benitez had raised eyebrows again with a remarkably reactionary formation for this trip to Championship strugglers, deploying Seamus Coleman as a centre-half in a five-man back line that included another right-back, Jonjoe Kenny, as well as debutant Vitalii Mykolenko as the other wingback.

Despite that defensive posture, Everton made a shocking start to the game and Hull could have scored three times in the opening quarter of an hour. The Tigers had the ball in the net with just 45 seconds on the clock as Benitez's defence displayed their mind-boggling inability to effectively defend set-pieces by gifting Tyler Smith a free header from a free-kick.

Begovic was then called into important action in the fifth minute when Tom Eaves was picked out with a simple cross from the right, the Bosnian palming his header over bar and then denying the striker 11 minutes later with a parry behind.

The Blues had been pretty dreadful to that point but they came to life in the 21st minute when Anthony Gordon and Demarai Gray combined to carve the home defence open.

Gray turned in-field off the left touchline and passed to Gordon who held his pass before slipping his team-mate in with a beautifully-weighted pass and Gray slotted cooly past Baxter to make it 1-1.

Gordon was the standout player in royal blue and he came close to turning the tie on its head just two minutes later but screwed a shot against the outside of the post after he'd cut back inside a defender and Baxter had to be alert to push aside a shot from Gray as the Premier League side started to look more like the part.

Michael Keane was almost the surprise scorer of a second Blues goal when he exchanged passed with Gordon, this time down the right but the keeper was equal to his attempt to find the far corner.

But Hull's defence was breached again in the 32nd minute when Gordon found Kenny on the overlap and his chipped low cross was attacked bravely by Andre Gomes and his header found the net via Baxter's flailing arm to put Benitez's men ahead.

Hull didn't bow, however, and they continued to make inroads into Everton's defence as the first half wore on, with Jacob Greaves almost getting in for a chance off a flick-on from a throw in but Kenny cleared the ball away.

The second period was the spell that should have seen the visitors wrap up the tie but they were unable to capitalise on some promising openings, the best of which fell to Gordon who was played in by Gray but the young winger was foiled by Baxter.

Gray also had an effort blocked and from the ensuing corner, Mykolenko blazed over but the Blues' momentum was visibly checked by Benitez's decision to withdraw Gordon with 25 minutes of the regulation 90 to go.

And within six minutes, Hull were level. Veteran midfielder Tom Huddlestone, recently on as a substitute himself, won a challenge against Kenny in the middle, and found fellow sub Graham Moncur played it back to Ryan Longman, the third of Hull boss Grant McCann's changes, who curled an excellent shot around Begovic into the top corner.

With Gray bending a shot of his own agonisingly wide and then spurning another chance when Townsend was, perhaps, better placed, Everton came close to winning it and staving off extra-time and Hull came within minutes of causing an upset when Keane Lewis-Potter rattled the post with Begovic beaten.

Forced into an extra 30 minutes of action, Everton made the crucial breakthrough in the 99th minute. Townsend picked up the ball in the middle of Hull's half and sized up a shot from 25-plus yards that dipped and swerved enough that Baxter misjudged its flight and then proved powerless to keep out.

And yet Everton were almost pegged back to 3-3 five minutes into the second half of extra-time when Hull won a corner, and Eaves drilled a shot that seemed destined to fly into the goal before Begovic got a low, stiff glove to it and kept it out and Hinds was unable to turn the loose ball home.

On the whole, an unconvincing performance from the Blues that does little to dispel the concerns around the manager but one that was enough to see them into the next round.

Lyndon Lloyd

Matchday Updates

It's the 3rd Round of the FA Cup and Everton are on the other side of the Pennines, up against Hull City at the MKM Stadium.

News signing Vitality Mykolenko starts with Nathan Patterson on the bench. Ben Godfrey and Seamus Coleman start along with Jonjoe Kenny, so who plays left and right back? In goal, Asmir Begovic starts with Jordan Pickford on the bench.

Lucas Digne will not play any part after Benitez said he no longer wants to play for Everton since the pair fell out over the latter's role in the side.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin is rested after he complained of tightness in his quadricep following his first appearance in 4 months in the defeat to Brighton. The striker ended up playing the full 90 minutes as the Toffees chased the game, a lengthy outing that was not in the manager's plans for the returning player. Rondon starts in his place.

Richarlison, Delph, Mina, Davies, and Branthwaite are all out injured

Everton kicked off and for once avoided the hoof upfield. but gave away a free-kick and it was neatly headed by Tyler Smith straight past Begovic in the Everton goal. Utterly pathetic start!

Begovic was tested again when Hull attacked with searing pace down the right, palming the ball over this time. From the Hull corner, Smith headed just wide. At the other end, Gray tried to overlap and won Everton a corner. Gray's delivery was absolutely shocking. /p>

Hull kept playing testing balls down their right wing that had Everton scampering back in petrified fear, a looped cross forcing Begovic to push it behind over the bar as he was unfairly challenged.

Godfrey advanced well but Gray completely messed up. Hull had the Everton players chasing shadows at times, with the Blues unable to dictate anything, Eaves got down the left and shot straight at Begovic, who blocked it behind.

Again Hull attacked and toyed with Everton's attempts at defence, ___ conjuring space for a shot over the Everton goal. But some real magic from Gray at the other end, played off Gordon, and then he slotted the return ball home with absolute class. What a contrast!

Gordon got loose down the right, took the ball in close but fired his shot off the outside of the post; should have scored really. Gray then fired in from the left, too far out really, bout forced a corner that he then hoofed way too hard beyond everyone.

Rondon may have got a touch as the ball came to him and he fell over. A ball in from Mykolenko, Greaves blatantly handballed but no penalty given without VAR. Gordon played a lovely ball to Keane whose shot was saved by Baxter. Another corner but not a great delivery again, ut Gordon headed down for Rondon to hopelessly fire well off target.

Everton had at least evened up the key stats after a terrible start, and Kenny then crossed off an intelligent pass from Gordon for Gomes to hurl himself forward and heading into the ground and into the roof of the net off Baxter.

But the home side were not giving in, and in a tremendous passage of play, they somehow failed to score as the Everton defence were all over the place. At the other end, Rondon passed to Gordon who's shot was absolutely skied when he should at least have got it on target.

Gray had a great run but failed to feed Mykolenko, who was overlapping perfectly, and the pass to him was really poor in the end. At the other end, another corner given up and thankfully headed behind by Hull.

Rondon was given time and space to advance but he was easily stopped by McLoughlin. Docherty fouled Gordon, Kenny curling in a decent ball that eventually won a corner. Gray finally got the delivery right but the ball ricocheted behind. The next corner was also good but cleared.

Hull won another corner that was cleared, Gray on another good run. Rondon was getting touches in the middle but the ball never went anywhere beneficial. Mykolenko fouled Greaves after he beat Gomes, and the free-kick was punched out by Begovic to end the first half of a pretty classic FA Cup tie.

Everton did a better job of controlling the play as the second half developed; it was a lot less frenetic. But Gomes got befuddled into giving up a free-kick that was swung in by Hull dangerously to the far post.

Gray did well to run forward and cross in for Rondon, who was in a good place but his statuesque turn was just far too slow and any chance was gone. Gomes and Gray tried to run the ball all the way to goal, winning a corner that Baxter punched a long way out.

Gray got forward again and fed Gordon but the angle was too narrow and he could only shoot at Baxter. Gray tried to get in again but his shot was blocked behind. The corner from Gordon fell to Mykolenko but he lazily blazed over. Townsend came on for Gordon.

Everton looked to be in control until three defenders ran forward at once and failed to collect a ball which got through to substitute Longman who curled a brilliant shot into the top corner to tie the game again.

Hull gained a new surge of confidence and lewis -Potter wasted a chance to further test Begovic. Gray troies to do the same shot at the other end but it curled inches wide. Doucouré replaced Kenny.

Everton were cut open again as if they'd lost concentration but fortunately the Hull move broke down. A real opportunity developed for Everton at the other end, Gray's shot handballed but again not given, and no VAR.

A free-kick wide right by Townsend won a corner. Townsend whipped it in almost at the near post but they could not profit from the following corners Hill almost broke to counter with 10 minutes left.

Gomes tried to release Rondon but the pass was telegraphed for McLoughlin to intercept and set up another dangerous counter. Doucoure and Gray set up a good move meant to feed the lumbering Rondon but Gray had strayed offside.

At the other end, a fierce shot from Lewis-Potter smacked off the outside of the post, another scare for the fretting Blue horde.

Everton allowed another Hull attack to develop but it went behind for a goalkick, Doucoure headed over after a good run by Townsend down the right. Gbamin then replaced Gomes, with 2 minutes left.

Hull again attacked with pace and invention but the layback was not good enough. Rondon big moment to break free and run at goal but he just trundled through treacle into a battle with Honeyman and flopped forlornly once in the Hull area, trying to win a penalty, but Kevin Friend wasn't having any of it.

Into the final minute and two more chances for Hull, Begovic grasping the ball desperately at the end. And so to extra time, with Everton looking flat and out of ideas… the last thing Everton needed after leading for much of the tie and not getting two clear penalties that would have been awarded by VAR.

And Hull showed more desire from the kick-off, Everton forced to defend struggling to clear the ball. But they broke and countered, only for Gray to shamefully get himself offside in with the Hull defence outnumbered. Gray had another chance to run through a crowd but he couldn't pull off the required strike.

Nothing seemed to be happening but Townsend pulled out a bit of magic, firing a fine shot that just beats Baxter to give Everton the lead again.

Could Everton now take control and play out the next 20 minutes without any stupid mistakes? Allan does his bit, giving away a tired free-kick that fortunately comes to nothing.

Townsend crossed toward Rondon but it was glanced away from the Venezuelan by a defender as Everton got to half-time in extra time, Rondon forcing a corner that was woefully overhit.

Dobbin was having a blast, skipping onto the Hull area to win another corner. But Townsend cross only pushed Godfrey too wide and then Godfrey was given a yellow card for timewasting with 5 minutes to go.

After a bit of a wobble, Everton finally produced some forward play, Townsend earning a free-kick, with Rondon going off, and Cenk Tosun coming on ads Gbamin saw chance for glory and blazed the ball skyward.

Mykolenko was adjudged to have fouled Hinds for a dangerous free-kick but it was turned into a counter with DObbin on a storming run. But incredibly Honeyman was able to catch him and scoop the ball off his toe. Doucouré then did a Rondon impression blundering into the Hull area.

Scorers: Smith (1'), Longman (71'); Gray (21'), Gomes (31'), Townsend (99').

Hull City: Baxter, Greaves, Smallwood (63' Huddlestone) , Docherty (63' Moncur), Eaves, Honeyman, Lewis-Potter, McLoughlin, Williams (63' Longman), T Smith (110' Hinds), Bernard.
Subs: Ingram, Cannon, M Smith, Fleming, Mills.

Everton: Begovic, Kenny (74' Doucoure), Coleman, Keane, Godfrey [Y:115'], Mykolenko [Y:45+2'], Allan, Gomes (88' Gbamin), Gordon (66' Townsend), Gray (106' Dobbin) , Rondon (118' Tosun).
Subs: Pickford, Patterson, Holgate, Onyango.

Attendance: 16,282

Michael Kenrick

When the players start going through the motions…

What wasn’t convenient was the accident immediately upon entering the M62 which closed off two lanes. In the bigger picture, it's of course important that everyone was okay following the accident, and it was not exactly a problem for us because we set off in plenty of time. After that, it was a clear run all the way up along the M62, and we eventually arrived at the hotel a little before 3 pm.

With plenty of time still until kick-off, we headed for a few beers, first at The King Edward, and then The Masters Bar where a few Evertonians were congregated, nearly all of which blew up at exactly 4:31 pm when the team news beeped onto everyone’s phones. Salomon Rondon playing from the start and five at the back again. Everyone continually bemused by our manager.

We then took the 20-odd minute walk to the MKM Stadium in the chill of the East Humber air. Once there, we found our way into the stadium and to our seats quickly enough, and arrived in time for a funky pyrotechnic display as the teams took to the field.

Everton lined up with the five defenders, Seamus Coleman this time at right centre-back with Jonjoe Kenny given another opportunity following a decent outing against Brighton. André Gomes also featured and Vitalii Mykolenko debuted.

Glancing through the Hull City team, I didn’t recognise many players other than George Honeyman who was a promising young player at Sunderland a few years ago, and Tom Huddlestone on the substitutes bench, who later entered the fray and was probably the best player out there. Kevin Friend officiated, Everton attacking the opposite end to us in the first half.

And we were a goal down in less than a minute of it. From our own kick-off, we conceded a free-kick which was put into the box pretty routinely and Tyler Smith willfully headed in. It was very poor defending and synonymous with the sort of easy goals we have been giving up of late. It didn’t take long then for the Evertonians to begin singing “Fat Spanish Waiter” and “You’re getting sacked in the morning” in Rafa Benitez's direction. Alas, that was not the case.

What followed was an atrocious 20 minutes or so. We’ve seen this before from our players when they’ve given up on their manager. They begin to go through the motions and do the bare minimum effort. We saw it under Roberto Martinez and Marco Silva, and now we’re seeing it under Rafa Benitez. He’ll be gone soon. When the players start going through the motions, there’s only ever one result.

Our equalising goal was frustrating in that it highlighted this. With our players largely going through the motions, they – or at least Demarai Gray and Anthony Gordon – clicked into life all of a sudden and created a very good goal with a nice one-two which was then finished by Demarai. It shows they can do it.

Assuming the screens downstairs would be showing the match, we went down for a beer on 30 minutes; however, instead of showing the game, they had Sky Sports News on and so we could watch people on mute talking about the game. With the match being shown live on terrestrial television, this was baffling.

We ended up watching the rest of the half on my phone downstairs, but were too late to see Andre Gomes’s goal which was headed in following a nice cross from Jonjoe Kenny. Though the goalkeeper should definitely have saved it, not for the last time in the evening.

Back in for the second half and Everton did in fact get their finger out and did produce quite a concerted spell of pressure in the first 15 minutes of the second half, though we failed to convert this superiority into what probably would have been a settling third goal.

Grant McCann’s response was to make a treble substitution, one of which was Tom Huddlestone, who changed the game for Hull City. They soon got a grip of the game again. Rafa Benitez’s response was to take off one of our better players in Anthony Gordon, and 5 minutes later, we were pegged back courtesy of a fine distance strike from substitute Ryan Longman.

Despite around 20 minutes still to play, Everton failed to, or ever really look like they were going to, score a goal to wrap the game up in 90 minutes. Hull City were full value for the draw and were marshalled superbly in defence by Richard Smallwood, and George Honeyman also excelled.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Premier League team take a small punt on him, while Tom Huddlestone used all his nous to keep moving Hull City forward, and Tom Eaves lead the line well throughout. It’s a shame for them that there are no replays currently as they certainly deserved one.

As it was, we plundered a win in extra time when a hit-and-hope strike from substitute Andros Townsend was ‘handled’ woefully by Nathan Baxter to provide us an advantage. And we have Asmir Begovic to thank for a quite brilliant reflex save in the dying minutes to prevent what would have been, let’s face it, penalty shoot-out misery at the MKM Stadium.

We trundled away after the game, and after originally getting completely lost finally found our way to a place I used to enjoy frequenting called Princess Avenue, before continuing into the city centre for an enjoyable evening on the beers.

We’re in the hat. I’ll be surprised if Rafa Benitez is still in the job to oversee our 4th Round tie against Brentford. It’s a shame we now won’t get to Goodison Park for the Leicester City match on Tuesday evening, though I’d say it's a bit of a godsend for Rafa Benitez that we aren’t. There can be no excuses for failing to beat Norwich City on Saturday. Lose that and he’s dust.

Player ratings

Asmir Begovic: Had a good game. He dealt with most crosses quite well and made some very important saves, not least at the end. 7

Vitaliy Mykolenko: I thought he did quite well on debut. Steady if not spectacular. He didn’t do a lot wrong and seems an agile player who does the basics well. Best of luck to him. 6

Ben Godfrey: Not great. 5

Michael Keane: I often find myself sticking up for Michael Keane, not least because – unlike some of his teammates – the effort is always there. And that was the case again last night. 6

Seamus Coleman: With a game expected on Tuesday, it seemed an ideal opportunity to give Seamus a rest, but maybe Rafa Benitez felt he needed his leadership in there. Either way, he did okay and didn’t let Everton down. 6

Jonjoe Kenny: It seems popular to think Jonjoe isn’t good enough, though most times I see him I think he does okay. No, he’s not a great player, but he’s okay and I don’t think he deserves the negative opinion of him most of the time. However, last night, despite a good involvement for our second goal, I thought he had a poor game and, under the stress of an angry away end, he lost composure and was then rightly substituted for Abdoulaye Doucouré. 4

Allan: All our players had to do last night was turn up and do the basics right. That would likely have been enough to navigate a safe passage into the 4th Round. Few did… but fair play to Allan who was tigerish throughout and didn’t stop battling until the end. Nothing spectacular, but he did what he was supposed to. My Man of the Match. 7

André Gomes: He mostly had a good game. He used the ball intelligently and chipped in with a goal. His header wasn’t great and should have been kept out, but it was a good accelerated run into the box which got him there. A good effort. 7

Demarai Gray: He made a very good contribution for our goal and kept their full-back honest. Rafa Benitez is lucky there is no game on Tuesday as, given Demarai could barely even walk by the end of this game, he’d have surely been doubtful. 7

Anthony Gordon: He was having a good game and was one of our better players but, probably with an eye on the game versus Leicester City, he was taken off. Madness. 7

Solomon Rondon: He was pretty hapless throughout really. Goodness knows why he lasted almost 2 hours when we had Lewis Dobbin and Cenk Tosun available. 3

Andros Townsend (for Anthony Gordon): As with Allan, he did the basic right. Nothing spectacular, but he did what he had to. He got lucky with the goal but we’ll take it! 6

Abdoulaye Doucouré (for Jonjoe Kenny): He is another one that is currently going through the motions. 5

Jean-Philippe Gbamin (for André Gomes): If the plan was to put him in the shop window given he is surplus to requirements, it didn’t work. Poor. 3

Lewis Dobbin (for Demarai Gray): Looks a good player and I look forward to watching his development from wherever he ends up. He probably wants out of this circus and who can blame him? He was lively and probably what we needed at that stage of the game. 6

Cenk Tosun (for Solomon Rondon): He got involved quickly. It's probably not unfair to say he did more in his 5 minutes than Solomon did in almost 2 hours. 6

Paul Traill

Match Preview

Rafael Benitez says he has yet to make a decision about whether either of his two new signings will feature against Hull City this weekend when Everton enter the FA Cup with a tie at the MKM Stadium.

The club moved quickly when the winter transfer window opened by securing left-back Vitality Mykolenko from Dynamo Kiev and right-back Nathan Patterson from Rangers for what could end up being a combined £34m but Benitez said that their readiness is still being assessed.

“The first training session was just for them to settle down.” Benitez said of the new boys in his press conference today at Finch Farm. “Yesterday the session was much better, [with] more communication with their other team-mates.

“Both players are fine. They showed that they want to do well. Are they ready? We will see. Today we have another training session and we will see how they feel.

“If you have to play them, they can play but, in terms of fitness, they've had 15, 20 days without training so we will have to consider all the aspects.”

Benitez's presser was dominated by talk of Lucas Digne whom he says no longer wants to play for Everton after the pair fell out over the latter's role in the side.

Digne has been left out of the side for the past month and has been attracting interest from potential suitors in Italy and England but, in the meantime, his position has been filled by Ben Godfrey and Seamus Coleman.

Coleman was deployed awkwardly out of position against Brighton last Sunday, a game Everton lost 3-2, but it remains to be seen whether Benitez will opt for that formation against the Tigers from the Championship.

Elsewhere in the side, Dominic Calvert-Lewin is expected to be rested after he complained of tightness in his quadricep following his first appearance in four months in the defeat to the Seagulls. The striker ended up playing the full 90 minutes as the Toffees chased the game, a lengthy outing that was not in the manager's plans for the returning player.

Lyndon Lloyd

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