Everton: Howard, Neville, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Fellaini, Bilyaletdinov, Pienaar, Donovan, Cahill, Saha

Bench: Osman for Bilyaletdinov (46m) , Arteta for Donovan (75m), Vaughan for Saha (70m), Nash,

Referee: Howard Webb.

Firstly, apologies (there are plenty of apologies knocking around at the moment), it has taken a while to come to terms with the result on Saturday, absolutely stunned and gutted.

After the performance of the season so far last week against Sitteh we were full of hope, that hope was fuelled further by Moyesy who was talking up how the boys had performed in training and Captain Phil who was talking up a repeat of last season’s trip to Wembley. All was looking good until you reflected on Brum, our opponents, undefeated in 14 and unchanged in 10, one of the form teams in the Prem and certainly no mugs as we had witnessed just before Christmas in the league.

As expected there were no team changes from a week ago, the fantastic news was the return of the best little Spaniard we know who was on the bench, it’s been 11 months, a very long time, welcome back Mikky. Now make no mistake, Brum deserved this, they were looking like Everton of a few seasons ago, working non-stop from the first to the last whistle, well organised and everyone working for each other. How different Everton were, particularly in the first half.

Everton rested on their laurels and plaudits which had been rightly delivered after last week’s win against the Rich Boys, we were believing the headlines instead of knuckling down and making it happen. Joe Hart did not have a single save to make in the first half, a disgrace. Meanwhile we had Billy on one side who was almost invisible and Landon on the other who kept drifting inside, we had no width whatsoever and were reduced to lumping it.

Things started to go wrong early on. After six minutes we got a free kick, wide on the right, inside the Brum half, yes you got that right, OUR free kick, INSIDE the Brum half. Bainesy took the kick and drove it straight into the wall, it rebounded to Benitez who played it out to the right wing before running into the box and nodding in the cross to put the visitors one up.

There was little response from the Toffeemen, we were stunned, the crowd was quiet and the team played as though they were stunned too.
Five minutes before half time things got worse. Man of the Match, Barry Ferguson who bossed midfield, ran unchallenged through the middle before taking a return pass from Jimmy Mac, unsurprisingly a back heel, before firing wide of Tim with a good finish to round off a good move and a very good goal. Fuck me, if being two down was not bad enough, the damage had been caused by Benitez & Ferguson!

HALF TIME 0-2

We were stunned, Moyesy furious and the result was the curly finger for Billy and the introduction of Ossy. What is going on with Billy, when are we going to see what we paid for? He just seems to go through the motions, shows little passion and the similarity quoted of the new Kevin Sheedy seems rightly to be weighing heavily on his slight frame. Get your act together Billy, we all need to pull together.

Ossy delivered after just 10 mins into the second half. Bainsey made up for his error which led to the first goal, he won a crunching tackle then beat Carr before moving down the left, he slid it inside to Peanuts who in turn found Ossy who bent it in with a right footed curler to pull one back for the Toffees. The cheers were with much relief, still at least 35 mins to go, we could now go on and get something here. Wrong.

We had four chances in the remainder of the half King Louis had two half chances, he put the first wide and hit the post with the second before he too got the curly finger for Vaughny, Moyesy shouting’ Warm up Louis, your coming off’. Vaughny went close when he hit a half volley just over the bar but the best chance went to Screech following a sweeping move from left to right, the big fella controlled Captain Phil’s cross before smashing in his shot but it was not to be. Much better in the second half but not good enough, such a disappointment, you could feel it all over the ground. Brum deserved the win and we learned a lesson the hard way. After the memorable experiences of the FA Cup last season when we got to Wembley the hard way, we forgot how to do it and paid the price.

The one high point was the return of Mikky, he came on for a 15 minute cameo replacing Donovan and oh how good it was to see him back.
So it’s the same as our lovable neighbours, fight for 4th place & the Europa League, let’s hope we put it right against The Mackems on Wednesday.
Some shockers today, Billy, Landon, Buzz Lightyear & Timmy, others tried and did ok, Bainsey pulled it back and Nuts worked hard but the Star Man once again goes to Fellaini, never stopped trying and almost squared it at the end. So the last Merseyside team crashes out of the FA Cup, maybe next year? COYB FTRS

Full Time Blues 1 Brum 2

---

Andy's Rankin

Marks Out Of 10
Player	Marks	Player	Marks
Howard	7
Baines	6
Heitinga	7
Distin	6
Neville	6
Fellaini	8
Donovan	5	Arteta	6
Bilyaletdinov	5	Osman	7
Cahill	6
Pienaar	7
Saha	5	Vaughan	6

Sausage Reports From Goodison Park

Today's Blue Kipper Star Man

Star Man

Stats

Goals

Bad Boys

Prem Table

Europa Table

 

 

Sorry about last weeks no show, but a Chinese weekend was thrust upon me, that's right Fri, Sat, Sun.....on the lash, so my head was like my gut, not right at all. As it was we did have a sneaky few quid on Nuts for the first goal and got 14/1 on him. The BK Committee, Sausage and Jogger have over ruled me putting the cash into the pot, as I can't claim a win that I never published first, bell ends.

So then Brum in the Cup. We are bang on favourites at 4/6, whilst the Midlanders are 4/1 for the win at Goodison. To get us back to St Andrews the draw can be had at 14/5. Now I hope a few of you took my advice a few weeks ago, as before the Carlisle match we were 25/1 to lift the trophy. Now on Betfair you can win cash without us winning the Cup, as now with manure and the shite out we have come into 15/1 to lift the Cup, and a tidy profit of ten times your stake could have been made if you cashed in now.

Nuts who opened up last weeks scoring is 12/1, King Louis is 5/1 and an outside shot on Bainsey is 24/1 all for the first in the onion bag. Good luck, and lets hope the last sixteen beckons for the Blues after this one.

For all Markets, click on the links: All Betfair Markets and Free £10 Bet

Lavo's Best Bet: £10 on King Louis First Goal

Season Total: £190

Where Were You Last Week Fat Boy