Everton 1 - 0 Newcastle United

Overview

Yet again, three reports for you. Choose which one you want to believe in..

Ouch. I don't really buy the 'we weren't playing well' excuses for the first half. The Toon midfield was simply better - much better - than ours. They were faster, more skilful, more determined. They won back possession quickly by closing down our players & hassling them.

Then at the back, Peacock and Venison were two shaggy nightmares.. never more than 2 feet away from Ferguson.

Fortune though, was that the Pies had no teeth up front at all. They seemed to play a sit back and break fast game, which was strange because their midfield was easily good enough to take the game to Everton more.

Like a Colin Harvey team, Toon-minus-Beardo & Cole were superb for only the back 3/4 of the field, and resorted to long strikes. Even when Gillespie or Fox did get a run to the line, the tap-in men didn't seem to know how to get on the end of crosses. Colin and I will be the first to admit that one Beardsley does not automatically mean you'll win, but it sure helps.

Meanwhile the struggling Blues kept getting enough possession to create but miss chances. Ebbrell was caught on the wrong foot and in half-stride (but surely Vinny - on the bench for some reason - would have tapped it in!?). Barlow hit the best stretching striker's goal since Hughes's last minute heartbreaker.. but was 3 inches too high: (forget it - Pavel's fingertips could not have stopped that bullet shot). There were 2 difficult headed chances too, but optimism was not high anywhere, and hit rock bottom in seat LL 116 when our best hope Limpar went off for G. Stuart.

Worse agony was to come in the second half when Barlow was clear through, missed the target badly by trying to place it, and was even too unlucky to be fouled and earn Venison a Red card.

After all those great chances, and two more later on, Keegan must have been just as sick as his Lime green jacket made millions of viewers feel when the goal was a soft one. The long pass in from near the dugouts was a gem by Unsworth after he'd earlier wasted 3 crosses & corners.

After going one up with 27 minutes left, the roles reversed. Now Everton sat back, and relied almost exclusively on long bombs to Ferguson to either collect nad turn with or flick to Barlow. Newcastle kept plugging away, but now working up midfield more, which still has superior to a slightly improved Everton. (Note: the three dogs all played WELL in midfield, but were still outclassed!)

Their efforts eventually produced the reward. There was no identifiable mistake in defence, but the Newcastle passing had tied the Blue formation up in knots and left a gaping gap in front of goal. Southall could only parry, and Fox advanced for a fairly easy tap-in. When he hit the side netting, their hearts seemed to break, because they didn't come close again. In fact a couple of chances opened up for Ferguson to ease the worries, but his luck was no better than Barlow's.

Team Performance: 7 Very glad that although under the cosh Everton did not panic or fold up or resort to scything Toon doon.

The Stats: Still 0 goals conceded! EIGHT different scorers! THREE ties won by a solitary defender's goal! 23rd Semi final! Extending our lead in all-time FA cup-wins over Villa (2nd) & the S**te (3rd)!

All I can say about today's performance is that is was good enough to get us through and that was only just!! Newcastle had quite a few decent chances but didn't take them, like us a lot of the time!! They had most of the possession we got the one thing that counts....Dave Watson's header!!

Him and DD had great games and no-one else in the side really stood out IMHO. Nev was on form again though, which was good to see. Barlow missed a sitter for us, as did Ebbrell and God himself (DD)!! Ebbrell's miss was down to his lack of skill with his left foot. He tried to change it onto his right and in the process, passed it back to Srnicek!! Barlow had a one-on-one and put it wide and DD tried to chip the keeper from the edge of the area, and didn't put it high enough.

Ablett looked better in the centre of defence with Unsy at left-back, but he has to get chucked out of the side once Hinchy's back.

Limpar got a knock in the first half, and had to go off. Hopefully that wasn't serious!! Parkinson was very quiet but put in his tackles when he had to. Stuart looked quite good when he came on and he caused soem problems although at times he looked completely out of the game.

Matty Jackson looked ok against Fox, but got himself in trouble at times. I'm sure Barrett couldn't have done any better though. In a way, I'm glad that Amo wasn't included for this game. It wouldn't have suited him and he would have ended up being frustrated.

DD was the figure behind all of out attacks. It was him who put the nod-on for Barlow to hit the bar in the first half, and he supplied the header that set up Davey-boy Watson for his goal!!

Great match to watch, but not attractive football. I'm willing to wait until next season for that, when we challenge for the title!!

There were quite a few times when we looked besieged and lucky to escape. Was it me or did we slack off towards the end? The Toon had far to much time on the ball. I'm not a big fan of the hoof from defence to DD but it was effective on occasions. Excellent setup for Dave to put it in. The joy on DDs face said it all.

Why is Ebbrell played so far forward (and why is he playing at all?)? The pass from the line by Anders was a sitter but he fluffed it. I recognise that JR thinks he's good for the midfield but he has proved time and time again that although he can get into good positions that he always fluffs them.

Ablett played well in the centre with big Dave, and I thought that Rhino had a fairly good game on the left even though he struggled a bit with Gillespie. Is there a chance the defence will be kept this way, I think it'll be more effective.

Stu Barlow missed a few as well, although he was really unlucky not to score when put through by a flick on from DD. I thought originally he had missed, but thanks to the benefit of an action replay I saw that Pav (can't remember how to spell his surm surname) got a vital touch to it. The through ball from Ablett was a corker to put Stu thru, but Venison deliberately swung at him and clipped his heels. I think this put him off his stride and helped him miss.

I was very surprised not to see Vinny at all, especially when Anders went off (I think this was due to injury but the commentators never mentioned anything). The one thing that did really worry me was that when the cameras panned across to the bench I couldn't see Amo anywhere. I personnally felt this game could have made him. If we get Colly (as exclusively revealed in the NOTW this morning whats the odds on Amo going the other way despite JR's denials that no club has enquired at him). I am getting really annoyed now at the lack of a decent chance let alone a run that JR has given him. It can't be doing him any good to see a player like Ebbrell who wastes so many chances sitting in his position. Do you think Amo would have fluffed the sitter that Ebbrell had today?

Sorry about that, got a bit excited there.

Good news that we're through, but I feel we were very lucky. We definately relied on the hoof today when I felt we would have been better trying a bit of passing. Roll on Spurs!! I think we'll have to alter our style for that match and play the passing game that we should have played today.

Man of the Match - Duncan Ferguson (confirmed by the Beeb), and congratulations on his Player of the Month award on Friday.