Prince Rupert's Tower
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West Ham United Edge Everton In FA Cup Thriller

By Trevor Murray

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Credit: Bridget Samuels/Flickr

Tuesday evening saw Everton travel to the Boleyn Ground to face West Ham United in a third-round FA Cup replay. And, following a thrilling 90 minutes, extra-time and then penalties it was 10-man Everton who were eliminated from the cup after a great team display.

Starting the match in high spirits, both sides entered the encounter with an energetic game plan as they went in search of a win to prolong their cup run.

The first real opening of the opening 45 fell to Enner Valencia. Capitalising on a poor defensive error from John Stones, who was attempting to play the ball out of defence, the Ecuadorian attacker stole the ball off his toe before getting a deflected shot away.

And, despite the best efforts of Andy Carroll to connect with the loose aerial ball, he was offside as his header went wide off the woodwork.

Just a minute later, the visitors had a decent opportunity of their own to break the deadlock as Romelu Lukaku found himself through on goal, but his shot was saved – either way, it wouldn’t have counted as he too was offside. As the match wore on, you sensed this one was going to be tight. Both teams looked hungry for the win as they battled for every stray pass and every high ball, but still nothing came.

Stewart Downing saw a long-range effort of his drag wide of Joel Robles’ right-hand post before Aiden McGeady made space for himself with a shot down the other end that was deflected away by a defensive header.

Indeed, it was the Republic of Ireland international who looked brightest of all for Roberto Martinez’s men as he dazzled The Hammers’ defence with a number of jinking runs down the right flank. Nevertheless, the opening period drew to a close without a goal to show for either side, even though it was an intriguing contest.

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Following the restart, however, it took The Hammers just six minutes to make their mark through a well-taken strike from Valencia.

Receiving a pass from a long free-kick, Andy Carrol made the most of a static defence as he turned on his heels before spotting the run of the pacey Ecuadorian. Playing him a neat pass into the 18-yard box, the 25-year-old from San Lorenzo beat both Stones and Robles to tuck the ball home much to the delight of the home fans. From there, with home advantage and the wind in their sails, it really looked like they’d go on to win it.

And things got even worse for The Toffees just a few minutes later as one of their key players saw red. In the 55th minute of the match, McGeady slid in carelessly on Mark Noble to receive his second yellow card of the match and was promptly given his marching orders.

Despite rallying and making a few smart changes, such as the introduction of Kevin Mirallas, Everton looked a little flat moving forward. Failing to take the chances that came their way, they looked destined to lose. In the 78th minute, Lukaku did well to put James Collins under pressure inside the box before playing a square ball to Kevin Mirallas, but he was denied by a last-gasp clearance by James Tomkins.

But then, in the 79th minute, Mirallas stood up to the plate to curl home a wondrously accurate free-kick from just outside the edge of the area. Then and there, Everton were right back in it at 1-1 and ended up forcing extra-time.

In the 6th minute of extra-time, an emotional Lukaku turned a scuffed effort into the back of the net after being assisted by Mirallas to gift them the lead and send them through to the next round. It was just reward for a spirited display. But super-sub Carlton eventually forced an equaliser for Allardyce’s team to set up a tense last few minutes

With chances falling to Lukaku and Cole again, there was no let up in the excitement as both teams gave their all, but in the end they had to satisfy themselves with the lottery of a dramatic penalty shoot-out, but Everton just couldn’t stay the course and were eventually knocked out 9-8 on penalties.

Up next for Everton is a Premier League clash against West Bromwich Albion, a match they should win given their current form, which has seen them look livelier since the turn of 2015.

How do you think Everton played on Tuesday night?