Everton Force Late Leveller Against West Ham In FA Cup

Credit: EFCSophie/Flickr

On Tuesday night, Everton welcomed West Ham United to Goodison Park for a fast and furious third-round FA Cup clash as the two teams played out a thrilling 1-1 draw.

An equaliser at the death from Romelu Lukaku cancelled out a header from James Collins to set up a replay as fans at Goodison Park were treated to a real cup cracker.

Starting the tie brightly, Sam Allardyce’s men put The Toffees under the cosh with a barrage of crosses and surging runs, as they did their best to break the deadlock. Coming closest of all in the opening quarter hour, Stewart Downing nearly found a way past stand-in Blues ‘keeper Joel Robles, but he couldn’t rattle the net.

Only seconds before that Romelu Lukaku had almost fired the home side in front, but he was inches away from finding a way to outdo Adrian in the Hammers’ goals.

Once Allardyce’s charges had seen their first period of dominance die down, Roberto Martinez’s team began to find their footing as they grew more and more into the clash.

Instrumental in their resurgence in confidence on the night was Ross Barkley. Injecting their play with a great deal of pace and drive, he saw them transform from a team under-pressure to a team looking to make their opponents pay for being so wasteful with their early chances.

More from Prince Rupert's Tower

Unfortunately, though, they too were guilty of spurning a number of chances as they let the visitors off the hook on two separate occasions.

First off, Steven Naismith saw a shot from 25 yards drag a few inches wide of the ‘keeper’s right-hand post after being played in by a Barkley lay-off, and then Lukaku, assisted by Barkley, saw his effort gobbled up by the net-minder when he could have played in Naismith to his left.

The first period continued with great pace as it dragged on, but neither side looked capable of unlocking their opponents’ defence, and you got the impression this was going to be settled by a big mistake or a single goal.

Following the restart it was The “School Of Science” who had the first real chance when Kevin Mirallas attempted a cheeky lob after he was played in by a cushioned Naismith header. Alas, his shot looped harmlessly over the bar.

Offering a riposte just minutes later in the 55th minute, it was Downing once again who threatened as he curled an effort that was deflected wide for. And just seconds later, the match was to change for the home side as West Ham took the lead from the resulting set-piece.

Connecting superbly with a corner from the left, James Collins powered a header past Joel Robles at his near post. But it was the poor defending from the three players surrounding the goalscorer that really underlined how all at sea they were – not one of them came close to stopping the shot.

From there, you feared for Everton as they showed little organisation at the back and were nearly punished again just a minute later, but Robles reacted well to palm Enner Valencia’s glancing header over.

Despite the best efforts of Barkley who had a shot parried away to safety in the 85th minute, as well as a sustained 10-minute period of pressure at the end, it took them until the 92nd minute to find a leveller thanks to some fantastic defending from the away side.

But it was Lukaku who made sure of a replay as he hammered home a late leveller from six yards after Bryan Oviedo set him up by firing into a crowded box.

In truth, it was a night of light and dark for The Toffees. Showing signs of life at times, they looked more than capable of getting a result in the cup, and were nearly made to pay a heavy for some desperately poor defending, but they showed great determination to fight back.

Up next for them is an incredibly tough assignment at home to Manchester City in the Premier League. But if they can show the same resilience, the might get something out of it.

What did you make of Everton’s performance against West Ham?