Everton 2 - 0 Preston North End

Half-time: 0 - 0

Paul Gerrard was out injured, giving Tommy Myhre a glorious chance to reestablish himself as Everton's number 1.  John Collins was out with an ankle injury, but Everton were still drab and lacklustre.  Jeffers had a good early chance cleared off the line, but on the whole it was a typically poor Everton performance in the first half, with Preston pressing them well, causing numerous mistakes.

The game bucked up a bit in the second half with more attacking play from both sides and Jeffers missing a few more chances, but the substitution of Cadamarteri for Pembridge seemed to change Everton's luck. A free-kick in an excellent position won by Hutchison was converted superbly by David Unsworth. And in the dying minutes, Joe-Max Moore was there in the box and very alert to smack in a rebound the Preston keeper couldn't hold.

On our way to Wembley?

A quieter reception awaited the boys in blue as empty stands greeted their arrival at the sides of the pitch as they prepared for the game.  An indication of the change that has come over the game since all-seater stadia became a prerequisite for higher British clubs.  Why get there early, when you know your place is safe?  No more jostling for that favourite crush barrier to stand behind, that stanchion to lean against.  No more dashing to the front to peer longingly over the perimeter wall.  But I digress, or do I?  Such is the state of affairs at Preston these days that its been 40 years since they last played at Goodison.  Once mighty, once nicknamed "Proud", no doubt many of the older amongst their travelling support recalled that last Goodison visit.  Get there early, claim your place.

Such had been the attitude of the fans.  Would the players go through the same emotions, would they care, would they do it for Preston?  More to the point, would Everton again come a cropper against lower division opponents?  With Mike Riley as referee, I could see it coming.  And what was the choral rendition of "Land of Hope and Glory" all about?  Was that one Wm. Kenwright's contributions?

The game started interestingly enough.  We seemed to be able to pass the ball around alright for the first couple of minutes, yet there was a sparkle missing.  Preston seemed to suffer from it, too.  But that was only to be expected, wasn't it?  After all, they were out of their depth here, weren't they?  Did anyone tell the players on either side? 

Put bluntly, for the bulk of the first half we were out thought, out fought and out played.  True there were chances for us, as Jeffers had a shot cleared off the line (weakly hit mind you) and was just deprived of another shot on the turn by a last ditch intervention with a knee by Preston's Jackson.  

True, there was no sign of us being overrun in midfield as three of the four seemed to be having reasonable games (final balls apart).  The back didn't look too shaky, but one rash challenge from Ball, when he might have been better trying to hold up Preston's Evertonian, Eyres rather than diving into the tackle, gave Preston the chance to go one up, but the advancing forward could only knock a solid connection to the winger's cross over the bar. 

Again Preston might have taken advantage of sloppy defending as a poor header from Gough saw the ball clip off his head into the path of Gunnlaugsson, only a late intervention (with a fine tackle) from Weir saving the day. The resulting loose ball saw the Preston forward miss a simple side foot past Myhre as a scuffed drive across goal landed at his feet. 

A Rhino effort from range which was caught at the post by the Preston keeper was probably our best effort. All things considered, against the wind (in the main) and not playing too well, to go in at half time at 0 - 0 was a bit of a blessing.

The second half saw us a little more interested.  There was still very little effort apparent down the left though.  Ball was giving it plenty, but Pembridge was a passenger.  A recent interview quoted him as saying something along the lines of "the Everton fans haven't seen the best of me yet".  Is there a best?  A glimpse would do, just now and again.  He certainly was a major part of the image portrayed to the visiting fans as the cry "Are you Blackpool in disguise?" was roared out from the Bullens Road.  The cheer that rose up from the home supporters as the substitution board showed Cadamarteri was about to replace him must have said something to both Walter and Pembridge. "Bye, bye Mark", maybe?

Preston were up for this match and their willingness to push forward was nearly their downfall.  Macken had an opportunity which he spurned and the ball call out to Barmby.  A push forward to Campbell, who held the ball up and a defender at bay.  Campbell fell over and the rampaging Barmby stepped in to take up the cause.  He raced into the Preston half, advancing up to just outside the penalty box.  The keeper stood up in front of him, Barmby saw Jeffers in space to his left.  A great ball found the youngster just needing to hit the target to score.  Such is his confidence at the moment that he side footed the ball past the post.  Activity on the bench saw Joe-Max Moore warming up.

A change of line-up did indeed bring about a change of approach.  But it was Cadamarteri who slotted in on the right of midfield, with Barmby moving across to the left.  Suddenly it was direct action, with Barmby inventive on the left and Cadamarteri heading for the by-line on the right.  Now the Preston defence looked a little more uncomfortable. 

Again we moved forward, this time Hutchison on the ball.  As he headed towards the penalty area, a shove in the side saw him drop to the floor.  A freekick?  I think so.  Enough to floor him so easily?  I think not.  Nevertheless, an opportunity now presented itself.  Preston had already wasted a similar opportunity earlier in the half, a timid chip over the wall dropping into the arms of the waiting Myhre.  Could we do any better?

Hutchison and Unsworth stood over the ball.  Up stepped Rhino, a sweet left foot.  A curling shot and into the corner of the net.  1 - 0 ....."Tell me ma, me ma...."

Preston weren't fazed though.  They pressed forward again.  I have to say, I was impressed by their attitude, their skill and their tenacity.  Throughout the 90 minutes, captain Sean Gregan shone like a beacon.  True he didn't have enormous competition in midfield, with the "lacklustre" Pembridge and the "tenacious" Rhino.  But Hutchison stood with him for a lot of the match and Gregan, I believe, came out on top.  He was strong in the tackle, incisive in his passing and not afraid of asking his forwards to work hard and keep up with him.  But he won't be my Man of the Match.  That has to go to an Everton player.

Again they had a free-kick just outside the box.  This time a poor shot was directed into the wall and it bounced away, but only to the advancing taker.  He drove the ball through the wall this time, but Myhre was again equal to it.  Then came the final switch.  Off went Jeffers with about seven minutes to go and on came Joe- Max Moore.

We were still trying to go forward, as were the visitors, and a long ball saw Joe-Max look rather uninterested, but it bounced well for Campbell and was moved out for Barmby.  Joe-Max had sensed something might be on at this point and darted into the penalty box, but too far as the ball wasn't delivered to him. Instead, Barmby nipped across the face of goal and then slipped the ball through to Campbell. 

At this point, Joe-Max Moore was offside and tracking back, but he nearly ran into Campbell.  The officials seemed not to want to intervene and play went on.  Joe moved back onside as Campbell's effort came back off a defender and spun across the goal.  He then latched onto the ball, knocking it past the despairing keeper, into the net. 2 - 0 ...."I don't want no tea, no tea..."

It was all over now.  We were through.  Not convincingly and maybe not even deservedly.  Preston played above their station.  But it didn't look an effort.  We're still searching for the sort of form that we showed against Sunderland.  Will we find it again?  Who cares?  "We're going to Wem-ber-ley, tell me ma, me ma!".......

Man of the Match: David Unsworth, who ran his heart out and scored a cracking goal.

As a game it didn't offer much attractive football and that which we saw came mainly from Preston.  It seems amazing that it took so long for our coaching staff to realise that this was a day for Danny – he's slipped back so far from his early appearances that Preston were his class.  Poor Mark Pembridge was yet again no use to man or beast.  Anyway, back to Danny, he can't cross the ball but he caused panic whenever he got the ball and ran at their defence.  Mind you, the spectacle of Walter and Archie trying to tell him where he should play was hilarious.  They didn't seem to know if they wanted him wide or tucked in – couldn't they have figured that out and told him what he should do before sending him on?

Tommy did all that was required of him and proved that we have two competent goalkeepers – neither of whom is outstanding – and Simonsen, who has not yet had a real chance to show what he can do.  Perhaps a melange of all three is what we need?

Otherwise, Gough had a very poor game, as did Dunne.  Weir saved Gough's bacon on one occasion and generally made up for both Gough and Dunne's shortcomings on the day.  It was a pleasure to see Ball at left back and apart from his early rush of blood which saw him miss a flying tackle after he'd committed himself quite unnecessarily, he settled well and looked more the proper left back we last saw about a year ago.

Barmby was another who will want to forget this game; Hutchison had some nice touches but never seemed to offer any danger to Preston for all that – it won't break my heart if he does leave.  The totally inept Pembridge I mentioned above already, which leaves Jeffers and Campbell.  I thought both tried hard with little success. It must have been very difficult to judge clearances coming over half the length of the pitch in that swirling wind so I don't blame Campbell for his targetman's inadequacies on Saturday.

Franny ran across the line as well as he ever does and certainly doesn't hide when things aren't going his way but maybe it's time to swap him and Moore so that he comes on for 15-20 minutes towards the end of the next game or two?  The rest won't do him any harm (he did have surgery only a couple of months ago) and the challenge of forcing Walter and Archie to take Moore off so he can go on and score some late goals could be the incentive he needs.

Almost forgot – Dave Unsworth, man of the match and an example to anyone who aspires to play for Everton.  Total commitment and an excellent goal.

Bill Kenwright, the impressario who has finally won his protracted battle for control in the Goodison boardroom, had Land of Hope and Glory played before the start and at the end, trumpeting his new regime, but if God made anybody mighty, it was Preston who, for most of the game, played the better, more cohesive football.

Cold, damp and windy, the conditions were just right for a classic cup Saturday. Unfortunately, the fixture list wasn't, the insatiable demands of television having fragmented the draw yet again. At this rate, the quarter-finals could be played on a Tuesday afternoon, to avoid clashing with The Simpsons.

Of what was left yesterday, this had all the makings - two famous old clubs with proud traditions, one fallen on hard times, but on the way back. Preston played their part, but not quite to perfection. Lest we forget, they were the first League champions and the first team to do the double, but that was more than a century ago. They last won the FA Cup back in 1938, have not been in the final since 1964 and had not been this far for 34 years. Third in the Second Division, they are on the up, but there are no Tom Finneys at Deepdale these days.

Everton, too, are improving, morale raised by a satisfactory conclusion to the boardroom shenanigans that had such a debilitating effect for so long. Their manager, Walter Smith, has agreed a new contract. His significant changes saw Thomas Myhre given his first appearance of the season in goal, in place of the injured Paul Gerrard, and Michael Ball recalled at left-back to enable Unsworth to move forward and fill the midfield vacancy created by John Collins's ankle trouble. Playing a defender in the creative third of the field served only to underline the superior accomplishments of Sean Gregan, in particular - but Unsworth, of course, had the last word. The crowd howled, the wind blew and the tackles came in thick and fast. It was a muck and nettles cup-tie all right, and Preston were never going to be found wanting. They were strong and competitive where it mattered, in central defence and central midfield, where Gregan was all things to all men, a captain leading by example. They were always dangerous, too, on the break.

"It's funny," said Duncan McKenzie, a former Everton favourite, "how the wind only seems to blow when we're in possession."

It might have been a different story altogether had Francis Jeffers, put through by Kevin Campbell, taken an early chance. Instead, after taking the ball wide of the goalkeeper, on the left, he underhit his shot, allowing Michael Jackson to get back and boot it off the line. Reprieved, Preston steadied themselves and hit back with some style. Jon Macken drove to the byline on the right and delivered an inch-perfect cross that warranted a better finish than Michael Appleton's header, wastefully high.

Bjarki Gunnlaugsson, who had delayed joining up with the Iceland squad in order to play, would surely have had his decision handsomely vindicated but for the last-ditch tackle by David Weir, which dispossesed him in the act of shooting, 12 yards out.The best chances were delayed until the second half, when, in the space of a minute, Macken might have scored at one end and Jeffers certainly should have done at the other. The Preston man drove hurriedly at the goalkeeper, when he had the time available in which to do much better, and young Jeffers, all alone in the goalmouth, missed a sitter, thumping Barmby's right-wing cross into the side-netting.

A goal was all the game needed, but when it arrived, midway through the second half, it was against the run of play. Preston had just spurned a glorious opportunity, Macken heading Rankine's cross straight at Myhre from the penalty spot, when Everton took the lead. Rob Edwards brought down Hutchison just outside the 18-yard line on the right and up stepped Unsworth and his trusty left foot to drill home the free kick.

Graham Alexander brought a half-decent save from Myhre late on, but Jeffers was closer still and Everton held out, then added their second when Moilanen repelled, but was unable to hold, a close-range shot from Campbell and Moore hooked the ball home from nudging distance.

No one, though, would deny a man of Bill Kenwright's integrity his day of joy. It is not just Everton who will benefit from the theatre impresario's belated takeover at Goodison Park. Football needs more of the same. The uncomfortable thought for both the new owner and Walter Smith, the manager who extended his contract this week, is that Everton are desperately short of class in key areas, the sort of class only money can buy.

The feel-good factor at Goodison lasted about as long as the first of many stray passes which littered Everton's inept first-half display. Kenwright must have been tempted to ask for his money back as he sat there, his pockets empty after his £25M midweek takeover, his boyhood dream fulfilled at last. Preston, a team full of confidence and tutored in the right principles by David Moyes, who was once a member of the Scottish youth team coached by Smith, were not the ideal travellers to celebrate a new dawn. Preston certainly imbued the principles of pass-and-move with rather more imagination and fluidity than an Everton side, deprived of John Collins through injury.

David Unsworth, whose two goals against Birmingham guided Everton into the fifth round, was pushed forward into midfield, lending a touch of brawn to Don Hutchison's brain. With a swirling wind making control difficult – painfully so for the Premiership side – Preston's superior technique, greater commitment and clearer shape belied the 35 places between the two teams in the League. The dominant figure in midfield was certainly stocky and swarthy, not Unsworth but Sean Gregan, the Preston captain, who tackled himself to a standstill. Pressed back for long periods by Preston's neat approach play, Everton were lucky to survive until half-time.

Though Francis Jeffers, desperately short of confidence at present, had promised to give Everton an early lead, rounding the goalkeeper only for Michael Jackson to scramble his shot off the line, Bjarki Gunnlaugsson had two chances within 30 seconds midway through the first half to give the Second Division side a deserved lead. A mistake by Richard Gough allowed Gunnlaugsson to sneak in behind the defence but, 14 yards out with the whole goal to aim at, the Icelandic international dallied fractionally. Weir's superbly timed tackle, though, fell to Michael Appleton, whose cross-shot needed, but failed to get, the merest touch from Gunnlaugsson.

As Everton's frustration grew, Unsworth was booked for a challenge on Mark Rankine and Kevin Campbell was fortunate not to see yellow for clattering Graham Alexander.

If the increasingly critical Goodison crowd anticipated a change of pattern in the second half, they were easily disappointed. Far from raising the tempo, Everton stayed firmly in second gear. "Are you Blackpool in disguise?" chanted the Preston fans, with understandable glee. Not even the usually glib Evertonians could find an answer to that one.

Yet Everton could have eased their worries early in the second half. Again it was Jeffers at fault, the waif-like Everton forward sweeping Barmby's cross wide from 10 yards. Moments earlier, Preston had worked a good chance of their own, a move of real class ending with Jon Macken flicking a shot straight into Thomas Myrhe's midriff. Campbell's theatrical dive over Jackson's outstretched leg fooled no one, least of all Mike Riley, but when Edwards hauled down Hutchison 25 yards out in the 64th minute, Unsworth drove the free-kick beyond Teuvo Moilanen for his third successive FA Cup goal. Unsworth, the one member of the 1995 Cup-winning side to bridge the years, trundled his way towards the bench in celebration, but Everton must have sensed their luck was in.

At last, Everton began to settle into a recognisable rhythm, with the arrival of Danny Cadamarteri for Mark Pembridge bringing an injection of pace down the right flank. For the first time, Preston started to show signs of tiredness and Jeffers' shot from 20 yards forced Moilanen into a fine save.

IF PRESTON North End are to further their promotion ambitions this season, demonstrations of resolve and durability will be required in what are certain to be contests of attrition en route to the Nationwide League First Division.  Paramount will be the ability to grind out results against opposition of limited invention who are reliant on a direct delivery aimed at an imposing target man.  It would be difficult to find a better role model for such ventures, which continue away to Oxford United tomorrow night, than Everton.  On this occasion, Preston ended second best, but David Moyes, the manager, will be hopeful that his players have learnt sufficiently from their experience to follow this FA Cup fifth-round defeat by securing three league points.

The harsh truth is that Preston established superiority in all departments of the game bar one and thus allowed a famous victory to elude them.  If there is cause for concern at Deepdale, it is the inability of the side to perform where it matters most – in front of goal. Repeated failures will not be tolerated and even in the second division there are teams who possess rather more guile and substance that Everton offered on Saturday.

"I'm disappointed we didn't get a draw," Moyes said.  "They took their chances when they came about and we didn't."  The applause afforded to Preston by partisans and neutrals alike on the final whistle may have rung hollow to the likes of Bjarki Gunnlaugsson and Jon Macken, the forward pairing whose fleetness and sleight of foot often made the Everton back four look cumbersome.  At least five clear openings were created by or for them and subsequently spurned before David Unsworth unleashed a 25-yard free kick in the 65th minute over the defensive wall and beyond Teuvo Moilanen.  The stares of colleagues afterwards were perhaps admonishment enough for the goalkeeper's tardy reactions.

Joe-Max Moore, a late substitute, added a second in injury time to conclude business and complete a scoreline that mocked the enterprise and endeavour of such as Sean Gregan, an inspirational captain, and Michael Jackson and Colin Murdock, the unyielding central defenders.

In fact the only element of surprise that emerged from the FA Carling Premiership camp was the addition of a most traditional anthem, introduced by Bill Kenwright, the club's new owner.  Perhaps Land of Hope and Glory does not equate with the Mersey Beat as succinctly as the theme from Z-Cars that ushers the players on to the pitch, but as it resonated around Goodison Park at the final whistle, it is perhaps a prophetic selection.

Hope has nourished the faithful in the blue corner of Stanley Park for what seems an eternity.  The glory, after this fortuitous passage to the quarter-finals, is surely written on the trophy this season.

Second Division Preston, who last won this trophy 62 years ago, had visions of another trip to Wembley as they embarrassed Everton with their movement and enterprise. Their slick exchange of passes created enough openings to have put the match beyond Everton, Bjarki Gunnlaugsson squandered a double chance in the first half, and the normally prolific Jonathan Macken spurned two more opportunities in the second.

Frances Jeffers might have given Everton the lead before a dubious free-kick award enabled David Unsworth to score with a swerving delivery in the 65th minute. Everton's American striker, Joe-Max Moore, again came on from the bench to score in stoppage time.

His colleagues had never looked comfortable, especially in midfield, where the tenacious Mark Rankine and the authoritative Sean Gregan ran the show. John Collins' absence left Don Hutchison with scant support and a near hopeless cause.

David Moyes, the Preston manager, said: "We didn't deserve to lose, certainly not by two goals. We had chances but you have to take the opportunities. It was only near the end, when we threw caution to the wind, that Everton managed any clear openings."

His opposite number, Smith, wore the look of a man who had had a nasty scare. He said: "It was a difficult cup tie. I did say it would be. The main thing is to get through and we've managed to do that."

Preston carved holes in the Everton defence and midfield throughout the first half. Jeffers had a tame shot cleared off the line but, against that, Preston will weigh Gunnlaugsson's profligacy.

The goal, when it did arrive, therefore, was out of the blue and out of context. Unsworth's left-foot shot, from 25 yards, had Teuvo Moilanen scrambling in vain at his left-hand post.

Preston's anxiety to salvage a replay inevitably left them exposed to the counter which Moore supplied in the last minute.

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