FA Cup 4th Round Replay, Wednesday 14 February 1996, Vale Park, Burslem.
First Match: Everton v Port Vale
Previous Match: Everton v Manchester City Next Match: Manchester United v Everton
Port Vale (1) 2 Everton (1) 1
Bogie 17, McCarthy 69; Stuart 32.
Port Vale: Musselwhite, Hill, Tankard, Bogie, Griffiths, Aspin, McCarthy, Porter, Foyle, Naylor, Guppy (Walker 85). Subs Not Used: Mills, Van Heusden.
Everton: Southall, Jackson (Limpar 75), Short, Watson, Unsworth (Rideout 29), Kanchelskis, Horne, Ebbrell, Hinchcliffe,Stuart, Amokachi. Subs Not Used: Kearton. Booked: Jackson.
Att: 19,197
Ref: M Reed (Birmingham).
Guy McEvoy: I had promised my girlfriend that I'd be spending Valentines day with the love of my life, but out of sympathy, told her that she could come and watch them to. It was her first ever match and the as the team ran out and she asked in seemingly the loudest voice she has ever mustered "so which team is Everton". I was to be in for a long 90 minutes.
Port Vale is a smashing little ground, excellent facilities and two fine stands provide testimony to a club with a vision. The first thing that strikes the visiting supporter though is the width of pitch. I don't know if the rumours about Everton rotating the pitch are true, but I'm sure that if ever Port Vale were to do this, they could do so without any rebuilding! The pitch was also in excellent condition and talk in the stands prior to kick off was of how this was going to allow Andrei and Anders to show their very best.
Joe though, as he is want to do, had other ideas. We started off with Jackson, Watson, Short and Rhino as the back four. Hinchcliffe, Horne, Ebrell and Kanchelskis midfielding (- can you use that as a verb? -) and Stuart and Ammo up front. Mysteriously, Limpar was with Rideout on the bench. Despite the apparently strange choice the consensus was that Joe knew exactly what he was doing and that the crowd shouldn't nit pick with him.
The reluctance to nit pick however didn't survive the first minute. Straight away Vale started as they meant to go on, running at our men and forcing the shots. Fortunately, the very first effort had no power, unfortunately Nev wasn't watching and made what should have been a bread and butter pick up into an awkward shunt behind the post. We were rattled.
The game progressed with bad becoming worse. We had no options, no one moved off the ball. There was a vague plan to hoof the ball roughly in the direction of Kanchelskis but Vale had predicted and dealt with it. When we did get something promising going we were stuck with the problem that dogged us earlier in the season with no one willing to take the responsibility to force it into the box. As long as Port Vale's defence stayed in position we were content to pass it in a semi-circle to the safe man, apparently waiting for their men to drift before we attempted to move. The problem was that our passing always looked more likely to break down before their defence did.
Vale had no such problems with players taking responsibility. Their players showed no fear of running at our defenders (who were standing off too far in the first place and invited it). They skipped past the Premier players with apparent contempt and it really was no surprise when that bloody man Boogie ensured his place in Vale history by darting past Horne and hitting another goal from outside the area. This time his achievement will not be diminished by taunts of "lucky deflection". This time it was class.
Ten minutes after the goal nothing was happening and Joe bravely conceded his error and had a complete rethink. Unsworth was withdrawn after a very unconfident showing, Hichcliffe moved back to fill his place, Stuart and Ammo both moved wider to the left and Rideout was introduced. The change in system quickly paid dividends, having more realistic threats on both wings freed a little of the pressure on Andrei who was able to "turn it on" a bit and create some good chances. Finally their defence looked breachable and eventually it was Graham Stuart who darted a long run through and struck home.
The consistent thing that dogs any Evertonian is the uncanny ability the team has to prove you wrong every time you sense a corner has been turned.
The second half was an end to end thriller of the utmost frustration. We managed to force numerous corners only to be hit hard straight away on the break. The only heavy legs were in blue shirts and we were unable to track their wide-men. Indeed it was a combination of their two wingers that finally sealed the tie when a text book cross by one was stubbed in from close by the other.
Eventually Joe gave into the demands from the crowd ("one Anders Limpar, there's only one Anders Limpar") and brought on the Swede for the hapless Jackson, with Ebrell slipping into rightback. The change though was to late, and in any case Limpar like the rest of the team showed a reluctance to shoot. Twice he made long dashes through their lines into the box only to lay off a pass to someone unsuspecting and unprepared. The story of the night.
The final whistle seemed to come too early but in all honesty had we have played even another half hour Vale always looked the more likely team to extend the scoreline. Memories of Wembley last year now seem all the more distant. What scant comfort I can find comes from the cliche of now concentrating on the league and aiming for that place in Europe, but it seems a hollow thought at the moment. I sincerely wish Vale good luck in the next round, if they can keep their play at that level Leeds should be apprehensive.
Individual Performances
Southall 8 - Very shaky start, but the two goals let in were unstoppable,
those excluded Nev made a series of fine saves that saved us further
embarrassment.
Unsworth 6 - Looked terrified coming forwards, three times found himself
in miles of space and instead of moving just froze before laying off the
simple pass.
Watson 6 - Wasn't Dave at his best, wasn't quick enough to close down
his man.
Short 7 - Clearly the best defender on the evening though I'm unsure
that represents particularly high acclaim.
Jackson 5 - Stinker. It's when he plays like this that I begin to
sympathise with the growing ranks of very vocal critics. Can do so much
better.
Ebbrell 6 - More influential than Horne but by no means a commanding
performance. Struggled when he moved, looked even weaker at the back than
Jackson had.
Horne 6 - Wasn't getting the tackles in and his passing was terrible.
His worst performance this season.
Hinchcliffe 7 - Again his corners from the right were all going flat,
though got his eye in for the second half. A much bigger asset at left back
than in midfield.
Kanchelskis 6 - At his best in the first half, completely anonymous
in the second. Our style of play just did not suit him, little attempt was
made by the team to get him back into it.
Rideout 5 - The change in system that came with his arrival was a
definite boost, but that was about his only contribution all night. Completely
absent of any ideas, or any vision. Very poor positional play, easy to forget
he'd been brought on.
Stuart 9 - A beacon in a sea of mediocraty. Looked like a Premiership
player, played with passion, and played to win. A good goal and an example
to all. In the best form of his career, he is IMHO the most important player
at Goodison this season.
Amokachi 7 - Showed his strength and a decent work rate but little
understanding with his teammates.
Limpar 7 - Everyones hope rested on him but it was really left too
late for him to deliver, looked reluctant to shoot, but neverthelss on what
we saw probaly should have been on from the start.
Will Jones: I had the misfortune of being there last night to witness the worst performance I have ever seen by an Everton team. Having also been at the first leg, I was aware of the danger posed by Vale's wingers McCarthy and Guppy and assumed that Joe would have a system worked out to combat their threat.
Either he didn't have a system worked out or the players were totally unable to play to it, because once again Guppy and McCarthy ran us ragged.
We could have gone one down inside a minute when Southall let a shot slip out of his hands and run just wide of the post, although he can't be blamed for the shot which did give Vale the lead. Ian Bogie (yes, him again) hit a shot from 25 yards, no deflection like last time, top corner: 1-0.
Vale continued to attack down both flanks and should have been two up by the time we scored with our first chance - Stuart collected a lose ball and fired in, with a slight deflection off Aspin: 1-1. A huge sigh of relief from the Everton end, but Vale weren't put off. Tony Naylor consistently turned our defence inside out with his pace and ability to turn, but we were lucky that he couldn't finish any of his chances.
At the start of the second half we played well, having long periods of possession and looking like we actually had some ideas. Stuart was making clever runs and Amokachi got himself into some good shooting positions but decided to pass instead. Stuart had a volley well saved and Jackson had a near post flick-on cleared off the line, but Vale were still looking dangerous.
Southall made great saves from Guppy and Bogie before Vale managed to score their second, Guppy beat Jackson for pace and knocked the ball across the goal (perhaps Hinchcliffe could have cut it out) and McCarthy smashed the ball home off the post. Jackson was taken off for Limpar and Ebrell moved to right-back, where he was immediately beaten by a perfectly executed Cryuff turn from Guppy. The final minutes were a mad scramble with Everton resorted to long-ball tactics which, without Ferguson, had no effect at all.
Had Vale's finishing been better they could have had 4 or 5 and they probably deserved to.
Individual Performances:
Southall - 7, shaky at first but he's the only reason we didn't take
a complete hammering.
Jackson - 4, beaten by Guppy so many times I lost count. Distribution
was appaling, please let us have Barrett back or sign Hottiger.
Hinchcliffe - 5, Corner-taking improved as the game went on; passing
not up to his usual standard.
Watson - 6, solid and mostly dependable.
Short - 6, Solid in the air but spent most of the second half wandering
around up front to little effect.
Unsworth - 5, subbed for Rideout in the 30th minute, didn't have a
chance to show what he is capable of.
Kanchelskis - 5, ineffective for long periods, but that its the team's
fault for not giving him the ball. Did come back to help out in defence on
occasions.
Horne - 6, Valuable job when he had the ball but his tackling wasn't
up to scratch.
Ebbrell - 5, passing was not good and neither was his tackling.
Stuart - 7, Best player for Everton. Ran hard all night to create
chances, well-taken goal.
Amokachi - 5, Same again for Amo. When he had the ball he was brilliant,
but doesn't have the confidence to shoot on sight.
Subs:
Rideout - 5, I know he's been out for a long time, but his first touch
was rubbish and his effectiveness was further reduced because he kept coming
to deep for the ball.
Limpar - 5, looked lively but too selfish when in possession.
Team performance - 5.
Gordon Baxter: As I see it there are basically two basic reasons for why Everton got dumped out of the Cup:
A few other things I noticed:
By Christopher Davies, Electronic Telegraph
PORT VALE comprehensively outplayed FA Cup holders Everton on one of the greatest nights that Vale Park has witnessed to reach the fifth round of the competition for the first time since their memorable win over Tottenham eight years ago took them to this stage.
Everton were fortunate not to lose by a bigger margin such was Vale's dominance. They outfought, outrun and ultimately beat Everton more comfortably than the scoreline suggests.
John Rudge's side achieved their memorable victory by playing creative football, using two wingers and posing Everton tactical problems to which they often had no reply.
The biggest crowd at Vale Park for eight years paid record receipts of more than £160,000 and the kick-off was delayed to allow the 20,000-plus spectators into the ground safely.
Latecomers would have missed Port Vale almost taking the lead after just 13 seconds. Neville Southall was caught cold by Martin Foyle's shot which the goalkeeper only half-saved and to his relief the ball bobbled past a post for a corner.
The First Division side took the initiative with some crisp attacking football and Ian Bogie's 18th-minute goal was no more than Vale deserved.
Andy Hill set up the move and when Bogie gained position he beat Barry Horne before shooting past Southall with a rising shot from 22 yards.
It was Bogie's third goal of the season and he certainly picks the big occasion on which to score. He has now scored two against Everton in the FA Cup while the other was in the local derby against Stoke.
Manager Joe Royle, without groin-strain victim Duncan Ferguson, took a brave gamble by changing his formation after 29 minutes. He brought on Wembley final scorer Paul Rideout for David Unsworth with Andy Hinchcliffe moving from midfield to left-back.
Five minutes before half-time Everton's back four were caught square by a long ball
Royle would no doubt say the tactical switch was not inspired but within three minutes Everton had equalised. Ironically, the goal came after Hinchcliffe almost allowed Tony Naylor to score with an ill-advised back pass but Southall saved Everton, though he had to concede a corner.
From this Southall collected the ball, and kicked it to the centre circle, where Daniel Amokachi helped it on to Graham Stuart down the left.
Hill, who should have been marking that area, was nowhere to be seen and Stuart took advantage of the space by running 30 yards before scoring with an angled shot from just inside the penalty area. It was, if anything, an equaliser against the run of play.
Six minutes later the home side should have made it 2-1. Steve Guppy passed to Naylor, who headed the ball to Foyle before running on to the return. Naylor beat Dave Watson but as he shot his composure let him down and his effort went wide.
Five minutes before half-time Everton's back four were caught square by a long ball and Jon McCarthy was on to the ball in a flash. Southall raced from his area and won the ball but unfortunately sliced his intended clearance high into the air but Naylor's shot from the loose ball went wide.
Vale's second goal in the 69th minute was the least they deserved because they had gone close four times in the previous quarter of an hour.
Andy Porter, Steve Guppy, Bogie and Foyle should each have scored but when Guppy made ground down the left wing and centred to McCarthy on the far post Vale's record £450,000 signing from York made no mistake even if the ball touched the upright on the way past Southall.
Electronic Telegraph is a Registered Service Mark of The Telegraph plc
Daily Mail SoccerNet: The Bogie man blasted Everton again as the FA Cup holders were sent crashing out of the competition.
Port Vale's Ian Bogie, the man whose late goal took this fourth round tie to a replay, needed just 17 minutes to produce a terrific 20-yard goal and put Joe Royle's team on the retreat.
But Royle's response, pushing on an extra striker 12 minutes after Bogie's goal, produced a reassuring equaliser. He put on Paul Rideout, the man whose goal won the cup for Everton last May, and he fed Graeme Stuart for a crisp 32nd-minute shot that clipped Neil Aspin on its way past Paul Musselwhite. But to no avail. Vale's winner came in the 69th minute from £450,000 record signing Jon McCarthy, whose shot went in off the inside of the upright.
With or without the deflection it looked a goal all the way, which is a little more than could have been said about Bogie's dramatic equaliser in the first meeting.
But the unsung midfielder's strike on this occasion could not have been more authentic. When Andy Hill played him into deep territory from the right, Bogie weaved past Barry Horne before curling a terrific 20-yarder into Southall's top left-hand corner. Everton's 37-year old goalkeeper had been on the alert from the off. There were only 14 seconds on the clock when Craig Short's poor clearing header allowed Martin Foyle to drive first time from the edge of the box.
Southall went sprawling to his left, couldn't hold the ball and was relieved to see it squirm just wide of an upright. Another defensive aberration threatened to heap further damage on Everton after Bogie's goal. Andy Hinchcliffe miss-hit a back pass and Southall twice denied the persistent Tony Naylor with flailing legs that finally succeeded in getting the ball out for a corner. But it was immediately after this alarm that Everton struck back. Stuart's goal did not stop the alarm bells jangling, though. Foyle fed Naylor for a twisting run but turned the unhappy Short inside out but the Vale striker fired disappointingly wide with the chance he had created. Then Southall had to race from his goal to deny Jon McCarthy, who was played clear, in what looked an offside position.
John Ebbrell did force Musselwhite into action but Everton were relieved to reach the break on terms. Ebbrell was back in the starting line-up after a two-match ban for an Everton side without Duncan Ferguson, suffering a groin injury.
Daniel Amokachi, recalled by Royle, made little impact and Stuart, Everton's 13-goal top scorer, was always their likeliest source of inspiration. He underlined the threat by forcing a great save from Musselwhite straight after the restart.
Dave Shepherd: One postponement of this game, then a mysterious postponement of a vital derby match against bitter rivals Stoke made one wonder about either the competence of the groundstaff or the fitness of the park, or the 'convenience' of having a nice rest before their biggest game for many years.
Indeed once in the ground, snow piled on the sidelines might have been the last unmelted stuff in the country.
'Once in the ground' being said with heavy irony. Burslem is tucked away at the most inconvenient and inaccessible corner of the mini conurbation.
Arriving at the M6 exit 2 hours before kick off was barely enough to make it the 5 miles to the ground, and that was with the benefit of having local traffic hints from a Stoke-born friend, and taking on the last two miles on foot once I was sure where the ground was. i.e. It took longer to get 3 miles in Burslem than the previous 75 miles from Bradford.
The local police made zero effort to channel the football traffic, or go on hand-waving duty to keep clogged junctions moving.
In short this ranks easily in the top 5 worst grounds to visit in terms of travel.. comparable to Blackburn, Man City, Man Utd, West Brom, and other nightmares.. yet the crowd was a third of the size of a 'big' game.
A pleasant little ville can make trips pleasant experiences. Burslem does not qualify. It's a dour place where kilns and canals and lifeless working men's clubs cling to icy windswept hills which remind one of Oldham.
I visited three pubs before and after the game, each in different parts of the city, and each was unpleasant in a different way. Strange old men in strange cloth caps lurk in the corners, and the hosts treat you like a Martian who has ordered a pint of mucky bathwater, both by their cold service and by the taste of what they sell as beer.
Burslem town centre itself is pleasant enough (once you've climbed up there), but spoiled by the oppressively large police presence, and the clear feeling that every once of them is needed to keep the highly unpleasant local yobs from turning on anyone they take a dislike to.
After the buildup, one naturally expects the ground to be a nightmare too. Well in fact it could have been a lot worse. The away end looked to hold a good 5,000, and was appointed with modern, unobstructed seats & facilities as good as any of the Premier's new stands. The thousand or so who drew tickets for one half of the sideline terrace probably felt otherwise, as the wind howled and froze them and rattled the BBC camera perched on a crane platform above them for want of a real scaffolding.
A few hundred empty seats could be seen in the corner of the 'main' stand, but the attendance otherwise was bursting, and easily the most unbelievably large 14,000 total I have ever seen.
Pre match news was bad. No Ferguson. No Parkinson. Limpar benched. Worse, Amo was up front and top scorer Stuart was sitting out wide on his wrong foot. Oh well it was only Port Vale, and AK could bury them single handed, especially at home where they had only 3 wins all year and were heading for relegation.
The play predictably started off the same way as the Goodison leg -- with Vale doing blue-arsed fly impersonations. The effectiveness this time was less dangerous, however. They did keep the ball effectively away from their goal for much of the time, but this time didn't create any realistic threats to score themselves.
It was particularly annoying therefore, when having survived this period and starting to build their own game, Everton conceded a soft goal. Bogie found himself clear in the middle of Everton's half, and before any defenders could recover to challenge, he hit a toe poke to Southall's left. Reporters described it as a spectacular bending strike. From row 5 directly behind the left post, I can inform you that the 'swerve' was one of those spin-cancelling jinks light balls make, and was on the order of a paltry 3 inches. It was certainly not enough to beat Southall, but unfortunately Nev's advance had not been far enough to cover a long-range shot with post-clipping accuracy, so it sneaked by brushing the gloves and the post.
So early in the game this was not any worry to Everton. What DID start to agitate the fans was the continuous waste of possessions thereafter which reduced our attacks and therefore our scoring chances. No question that this was partly due to the psychotic terriers in white who closed down everyone and niggled away to force hurried passes.. but many superior teams have died on the sword of this tactic to Everton this season because, unlike in HK2 days, Everton's players now have enough skill to breeze through and create chances and score anyway. Unfortunately this night, that extra dimension was AWOL, and our scoring chances looked desperately slim.
Luckily, JR & WD had figured this out too. In a rare pre-half-time switch, they pulled Rhino, and put on Rideout. To everyone's surprise, before there was time to decide whether this was a good idea, Stuart pounced on some loose defending, and slammed a deflected shot in for the equaliser. This was highly satisfactory for several reasons.. because Vale were only still in because of an outrageous deflection.. because it so clearly holed all Vale's players and fans' morale.. and because it set Everton into a much more confident and effective period where they could have added more goals. EFC fans warmly applauded the half-time whistle and looked forward to overcoming the Elland Road jinx.
Second half started in much the same vein. The traffic was virtually one way towards the away fans behind the Vale net. The only question was which of the 3 flair forwards would break the journeyman defence. Vale's attitude was clearly to hold out and pray hard during penalties.
Where the inspiration came from for the lone attack which produced a second goal is a bit of a mystery. Anyway, a left wing kick-and-run, a charge and a cross, and John McCarthy's guardian angel smiled on him, because having done nothing all game (after a decent one at GP), the ball fell perfectly for him, unmarked, and he could not miss.
Even this new lead did not seem to make the Vale fans believe they were going to win. Just as after the equaliser, they seemed to accept that the axe would eventually fall and they would lose. Everton did everything they could to help them lose. JR threw on Limpar, effectively leaving only 3 back. The little wizard almost did it with his first touch.. Collected the ball in an acre of space, looked up, one touch to tee it up, and one of those dream drop delivery passes onto the foot of the Diamond. But this time fate decreed it went straight to the arms of the keeper.
EFC continued throwing everything into attack, causing melees & penalty area mayhem, but as the time ebbed away, it was clear that the FA Cup had given us too many chances already, and 8 goals against was already far too many. During the last assaults, Vale broke clear into the stripped defence and might have got a third (causing moronic rhetoric like "Vale dominated and could have scored five" - ignoring the previous balance of play), but more importantly it just ate up time. The best illustration of press bias was that only one report bothered to mention EFC had one cleared off the line, and only one other that we had golden chances at the start of the 2nd half. I don't think ANY mentioned the Limpar-Stuart shot.
The strongest factor though, was the performance of the keeper. He looked as if tormented by his howler at GP, he'd sold his soul for one world-class game.. and so, time and time again soared out into wide, even foolish positions to snatch crossed balls off the heads of Rideout, Short, Watson, and even Stuart... any one of which Dunc would have been able to rise higher to. {-[
Bewildered and angry Evertonians just turned and left. Few bothered to boo, or applaud the Vale players. When you lose to Div One relegation fodder, you just have to write it off as a bad luck night.
Referee: No complaints.
PA News: Record signing Jon McCarthy tore the Cup from Everton's grasp as Vale deservedly ousted the holders in the upset of the fourth round. The 26-year-old winger, brought to the Potteries in a £450,000 summer move from York, struck 21 minutes from time to earn a last 16 trip to Leeds.His wing partner Steve Guppy streaked down the left, Martin Foyle dummied and McCarthy came steaming in to thump home off the inside of the post.
It was no fluke and Joe Royle's men could have no complaints after the first division side's attacking intent unhinged them all night. Ian Bogie had shot John Rudge's men ahead in the 17th minute only for Graham Stuart to level before the break.But, after Stuart and Matt Jackson were denied at the start of the second half, Vale took complete control with only the magnificence of Neville Southall and poor finishing leaving the result in doubt.
The tone for a thrilling night was set inside 14 seconds, as Craig Short's weak header allowed Goodison scorer Foyle a sight of goal 20 yards out, Southall going down at his left-hand post but losing the ball, which squirmed a fraction wide.
Everton, with Daniel Amokachi in for groin victim Duncan Ferguson up front, and Andrei Kanchelskis on the right, had plenty of possession but did little with it.And, with Vale in vibrant mood, it was no real surprise when they took the lead. Right-back Andy Hill fed in from the flank and Bogie, rewarded for his last-gasp equaliser last month with a starting place, skated past Barry Horne before thrashing past Southall from 20 yards.
Vale, with Guppy and McCarthy revelling on the flanks, were buoyant and Royle realised the bullet had to be bitten, hauling off David Unsworth -- Andy Hinchcliffe reverting to a defensive role -- and sending on last season's Wembley match-winner Paul Rideout.
After Hinchcliffe escaped with a dreadfully short backpass -- Tony Naylor not taking advantage -- the switch bore fruit in the 32nd minute. Rideout touched on Southall's clearance and Stuart, with 40 yards of open ground in front of him, took full advantage, surging to the edge of the box before shooting, the deflection off Neil Aspin only ensuring the striker's 13th of the season.
Up to the break it seemed both sides had forgotten the need for defence, Naylor swaying past Short but firing wide, Hill declining to tackle John Ebbrell and grateful to Paul Musselwhite's diving save, and McCarthy just foiled by the on-rushing Southall.
Everton were close to taking a grip at the start of the second period. Musselwhite turned Stuart's rising drive over the bar after Amokachi left Kanchelskis' cross. And from the resulting Hinchcliffe corner Matt Jackson's header was cleared off the line by Guppy.
But Everton's defence was still awfully wobbly. Guppy was wastefully wide after Foyle and Andy Porter combined to slice them open in the 53rd minute, and when he cuaght McCarthy's cross flush on the volley soon after Southall made a point-blank stop.
That was the warm-up act for the stop that followed, Southall flinging himself to his right to keep out another super strike by Bogie. And when Foyle squandered good work from Naylor by blazing over it looked as if Vale would rue the misses.
But McCarthy had other ideas, slamming home his third of the season and only more brilliance by Southall, somehow keeping out Naylor's 10-yard strike, and a desperate Hinchcliffe clearance to deny Naylor again, allowed Everton to retain any hope. They never really looked like drawing level again, Southall foiling Naylor once more before the end, but the night was Vale's and rightly so,
PA News - Interviews: Everton boss Joe Royle could not contain his anger after the FA Cup holders were sent crashing out at first division Port Vale. Graham Stuart cancelled out Ian Bogie's opener for the home side in the first half but once Jon McCarthy had put Vale back in front 21 minutes from time there was no way back for the Goodison men.
And Royle did not hold back as he slaughtered his side after the match.
"We didn't rise to the occasion or match their passion," said Royle.
"At times tonight we were an embarrassment and we made them look like Real Madrid.
"They were the better side. They were better in the first game and deserved the draw and they were much better than us tonight.
"Nothing happened up front and, although Neville Southall was outstanding closely followed by Dave Watson and Graham, that just isn't good enough. You can't play against anybody with only three men."
Royle's anger was in stark contrast to the joy in the Vale ranks after the victory which took them through to the fifth round for the first time since the famous victory over Tottenham in round four in 1988. The Potteries side now travel to Leeds and match-winner McCarthy revealed the Burslem outfit had fancied their chances right from the start.
"When we went out we thought that Everton were there for the taking," said McCarthy.
"We raise our game for the occasion and just went at them.
"We were very positive right from the start and created plenty of chances. We could have won by a lot more but it was an outstanding performance and the best night of my life."
Vale boss John Rudge hailed his side. "I am elated because the team performance was outstanding and everybody did themselves proud," he said.
"We caused them problems at Goodison Park and I felt this was an opportunity for us to get at them again and we did exactly that."
Rudge revealed that his gamble on selecting Bogie, scorer of the late, late equaliser in the first game, had paid off handsomely.
"I had to take the very difficult decison to play Ian rather than Ray Walker," he said.
"It went down to a toss of the coin. I am just pleased it came down on the right side because it was a great strike."
Comparing the result to that famous win over Terry Venables' side back in '88 Rudge added: "It seems like a long time ago but it's just a great feeling to beat the Cup holders.
"Spurs was a magnificent game but beating a side as good as Everton is a fantastic feeling for the club."
By Rob Hughes, The Times
EVERTON, the FA Cup holders, lived on their nerves, rode their luck, but finally did not have the wit or the will to survive their replay at Vale Park last night. Port Vale, masquerading among the down-and-outs of the Endsleigh Insurance League first division, lapped up the atmosphere, banked a record £175,000, and outplayed Everton in the grand manner. Leeds United, who await in the fifth round at Elland Road next Wednesday after beating Bolton Wanderers, cannot take anything for granted.
In 1988, Vale, as now under John Rudge, had eliminated Tottenham Hotspur. "It's that same old feeling, elation," Rudge said. "Better still, we didn't scratch a result. We could have won by even more."
Early on, the match was a testimony to the fading art of defending. After only 14 seconds, Everton allowed Foyle in behind them, and Southall somehow took his eye off the centre forward's shot, letting it squirm out of his grasp, tantalisingly wide of a post. But, in the seventeenth minute, Vale had the lead thanks to Ian Bogie, a player retrieving the vision and dynamic range of shot of his school days.
To do so, he accepted the ball from Hill, he glided past Horne, and with his right foot, from 25 yards, induced a heavy sway on the ball so that it eluded Southall. Bogie, in that moment, had made those two stalwarts, Horne, 33, and Southall, 37, look every minute of their age.
Joe Royle, the Everton manager, seeing how Port Vale cemented the gaps in their defence, brought on Rideout in place of Unsworth. Perhaps he reasoned that, since the route through the middle was not working, he might as well revert to aerial football, even without Ferguson, who has a groin injury. Royle, though, was almost betrayed in an instant by Hinchcliffe, whose wretched back-pass put the ball beyond his own goalkeeper. Had Naylor been more alert, had Southall not been able to scramble back and scuttle the ball away for a corner, this would have been embarrassment indeed.
But how fickle is the pendulum of Cup fortune. From the corner, in the 32nd minute, Southall was able to take a lunging, long kick, and when Rideout flicked it on with his foot, Stuart, capitalising on Hill's lack of awareness, swooped to shoot. His aim was true - the ball would have hit the net in any case - but it took the slightest of deflections off the body of Aspin.
Vale, nothing if not spirited, had two counter-attacks that raised the expectations of their crowd. In the 36th minute, Naylor released Guppy in space behind Jackson and Watson. The winger breezed in, but, off balance, mis-hit the ball off target. And then, when the referee had judged that McCarthy was onside after a perceptive through-ball from Bogie, Southall came racing out of his area, saving once again with his feet.
Amokachi at times was hypnotic in possession, yet his cleverest manoeuvre was to dummy the ball when Kanchelskis crossed from the right so that Stuart could volley, a shot which Musselwhite managed to turn over his bar with quick reflexes.
Then the flow, the elegant interpassing and the inventive raids, all favoured Vale. Foyle and Porter set up Guppy, whose finish across the face of an inviting net was inept. Soon afterwards, Guppy did well with a running volley from McCarthy's judicious pass, a volley blocked feet first again by Southall. The goalkeeper was soon stretching above his head to turn over another drive by Bogie. Then Foyle missed from seven yards.
Foyle, however, atoned with a dummy smarter even than Amokachi's. It allowed Guppy to outpace Jackson and to cross with great pace for Jon McCarthy, accelerating in from the other flank, to smite the ball viciously off the near post and past Southall for the winner. They would have made it 3-1 had Hinchcliffe not athletically cleared off the line from Naylor.
Royle offered no excuses. "They were the better side over both games," he said. "We made Vale look like Real Madrid."
Joe Royle in The Liverpool Echo: "Looking at the other night, it didn't tell us anything new. It's just maybe accelerated the process of what's going to happen here.
"I didn't say there would be a total clear-out, but I did say it will be a watershed. Who we need and what we need to do will remain secret.
"It will take time to get those players. At the moment the net transfer balance is about 11m pounds stlg, which is a substantial amount.
"The message is certainly no panic. There will be no witch-hunt and no recriminations because the players here don't deserve that, but there is a clearer picture now about what we need.
"I think watershed is the right phrase to use for Wednesday because of a: the manner in which we lost and b: the timing of it.
"The club feels very disappointed and very angry at going out to lower division opposition.
"I have never ever said that we are the finished article and I know we need players to go on, but in 14 months we have come a long way.
"We are not looking over our shoulder. We are looking at a top 6 place.
"It has taken Newcastle four years to get where they are now. It took Manchester United seven years.
"In 14 months, it has been a turn-around and survival battle. We are now in a position where we can continue to the end of the season without looking over our shoulders. That means we can look at new players and bring younger players through.
"There is a lot to look for. I am very aware that at our best we can be very entertaining and very quick, and at our worst, we can look without guile at times."