Everton went for it against Sunderland this afternoon, at least as much as David Moyes' incredibly thin squad can, given all the losses it has sustained in recent weeks.
In that regard, there likely wasn't an Evertonian alive who would have been surprised if you told them prior to the start of the match that the Toffees would fall out of the FA Cup on the first go, with Sunderland visiting the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
The way the match played out, however, was quite surprising, even if it was a mostly dull affair, particularly from an Everton perspective.
Sunderland controlled almost the entirety of the first half, at one point holding onto over three-quarters of the possession as they tried to pick the home side apart. And yet it took the Black Cats a half hour to make Everton pay, when Enzo Le Fee rocketed a shot past Jordan Pickford when the Blues failed to properly clear a long throw into the box.
It was well deserved for Sunderland, who were passing the ball through Everton's midfield as if it wasn't there. None of the trio of James Garner, Harrison Armstrong, and Merlin Röhl could do much to stop the proceedings, and every time the Blues did get a hold of the ball, it almost immediately found its way back to the feet of one of the visiting players.
And so the home side went into the halftime interval down 1-0 and happy to not be even further behind, as Sunderland finished with 59% of the possession, firing 8 shots (4 on target) and forcing three saves from Pickford.
Everton's depleted bench gave the look of a side that had no chance of getting back into the match, and yet Pickford's heroics kept the gap at just a single goal.
Moyes went to two strikers up top with Thierno Barry coming on for Tyler Dibling in the 75th minute, and then, with only one senior outfield player left, the manager did something nobody would have expected: he gave Adam Aznou his debut in the 86th minute, sliding him into the midfield in front of Vitalii Mykolenko.
The Moroccan made an immediate impact, bringing energy to the side that Everton hadn't shown up until then. And then, just two minutes after coming on, Aznou glided into the box and forced Granit Xhaka and Trai Hume to make a challenge. The Everton teenager went down on contact and the referee pointed to the spot.
With no VAR, there was nothing to wait for. The penalty was, to put it lightly, rather soft; but given Everton's recent luck with such things, there was little complaining from the home fans. James Garner stepped up and tied the score.
That would lead to a goalless extra time period where both sides were making a run at getting the winner, although Everton never troubled the Sunderland goalkeeper.
Unfortunately, all that goodwill was squandered with the penalty shootout. Garner, Barry, and Beto all saw their rather poor attempts saved, while Sunderland's Le Fee, Xhaka, and Luke O'Nien all beat Pickford to secure the win.
But the story of the day was Aznou finally breaking his way into the squad, and, frankly, Moyes looking a little foolish for having kept him on the bench for so long. It wasn't perfect, but the kid looks to be a special player who needs to be part of the mix moving forward.
Everton are now out of all other competitions, so they can now focus on getting healthy and locking themselves into climbing as high as they can in the Premier Leage table.