Everton do it the hard way again
THEY really could not have done it any other way. Everton’s assault on the Capital One Cup this season has been littered with scares and it was the same again last night as they beat Norwich on penalties to reach the last eight. It might have been so different. They were booed off at half-time, fell behind to a Sebastian Bassong goal that was the product of woeful defending and spurned a number of glorious chances, after Leon Osman had secured parity. But as was the case at Barnsley in round two, then again when they travelled to Reading in round three, Everton found a way to win, this time after Gerard Deulofeu, Ross Barkley, Romelu Lukaku and Darron Gibson converted from 12 yards. This was a cruel way for Norwich to lose, particularly on Wes Hoolahan and Nathan Redmond, the men who missed their penalties, but none of that mattered to Everton’s delirious squad as they raced to engulf Joel Robles after Redmond’s spot-kick had missed. Here was Everton’s first penalty shootout victory at Goodison Park since a tie against Borussia Moenchengladbach in the 1970 European Cup and it ensured they are in the last eight of the League Cup for the first time of the competition since the 2007-08 campaign. For all that Everton have a distinguished history, they have never had any particular affinity with this competition and the manner in which they played for the opening 45 minutes did not suggest they wanted to grasp their chance. They had no attacking threat, failing to force a meaningful save out of Norwich keeper Declan Rudd in the first half. Norwich went ahead in the 51st minute when Gary O’Neill played a loose ball into the danger area, where Bassong did the rest. Everton boss Roberto Martinez took drastic action, introducing Ross Barkley and Gerard Deulofeu on the hour, and they began to play and levelled in the 68th minute when Osman turned in a cross from Kevin Mirallas. The atmosphere inevitably changed but Everton could not find the grandstand finish until the shootout.
EVERTON (4-2-3-1): Robles 6; Browning 6 (Barkley 61min, 7), Stones 6, Funes Mori 6, Oviedo 6.5; McCarthy 7, Gibson 5.5; Mirallas 6.5 (Naismith 98), Osman 6.5, Kone 6 (Deulofeu 61, 7); Lukaku.
Subs not used: McGeady, Lennon, Howard, Galloway. Booked: None. Scorer: Osman 68.
NORWICH (4-2-3-1): Rudd 6; Wisdom 6 (Whittaker 91), Bennett 6.5, Bassong 7, Olsson 6.5; Mulumbu 7 (Dorrans 76), O’Neil 6.5; Redmond 8, Hoolahan 7.5, Odjidja 6 (Jarvis 69, 6); Grabban 6.
Subs not used: Ruddy, Martin, Jerome, Lafferty. Booked: Mulumbu, Bennett, Olsson. Scorer: Bassong 51.
Man of the match: Joel Robles. Referee: Roger East 6.5.