An FA Cup David and Goliath clash at Goodison Park witnessed a nervy and dis-functional Everton display as they narrowly beat National League side Boreham Wood 2-0 on Thursday night.
With a gap of 78 league ladder placings between the two sides it was clear who should come out on top, but history tells you that shocks of this magnitude do happen every so often.
Frank Lampard made several changes to his side that had narrowly and controversially lost to Premier League champions Manchester City on Saturday night.
Jordon Pickford, Mason Holgate, Seamus Coleman and Richarlison were all rested, while Donny Van De Beek was cup tied and unavailable. Nathan Patterson, for his Everton debut, Vitalii Mykolenko, Jarrad Branthwaite, Andros Townsend and Solomon Rondon were the beneficiaries of these changes.
Mykolenko was also made captain, a lovely gesture with what is going on in the Ukraine, and once again Goodison was an emotional scene as the John Lennon song ‘Imagine’ rang out after the Z Cars entrance music. Both teams also lined up behind a Ukrainian flag banner before kick off.
Boreham Wood manager Luke Garrard was able to select the fourth round goal scoring hero Mark Ricketts and Everton fan Kane Smith who had both been very doubtful before the game. Ricketts and Smith did both have to make second half exits as the injuries caught up with them.
Everton were slow and poor in a boring and abject first half that would have had many in the United Kingdom reaching for the remote control as it was being shown on terrestrial free television.
Despite a shot on target from Mykolenko inside the first ten minutes, Everton were lacklustre and slow in their build up play which played right into Boreham Wood’s hands.
Having said that the best Boreham Wood could manage all game attacking wise was a couple of forays to the by-line in the first half and a 25 yard shot over the bar in the second.
With Richarlison introduced at half time Everton pushed further forward and their passing had much more conviction and pace in this period.
It didn’t take too long to break the deadlock as Rondon made a good run inside the penalty area to score at the near post after Kenny’s clever and perfectly paced ball to him.
After that Everton could have scored more with Anthony Gordon having a couple of attempts saved, Richarlison having a harsh goal disallowed for handball and Michael Keane heading over from a corner.
In the end Rondon got his second with six minutes to go, a header from Townsend’s good left foot cross that the Boreham Wood goalkeeper just couldn’t keep out as the referee confirmed with the goal line technology.
That sealed the game and gave Everton a chance to blood some of the academy players which witnessed debuts for Reece Welsh and Isaac Price, plus another run out for Lewis Dobbin.
The FA Cup Quarter-Final draw was undertaken before the game kicked off and Everton will go down to London later in the month to face an even and intriguing contest against Patrick Viera’s Crystal Palace.