ENDING THE DROUGHT
Coleman admits 26 years without a trophy is slap in the face.. but they won’t take their eyes off the Premier League
SEAMUS COLEMAN is Everton’s captain and longest-serving player so knows better than anyone how desperate they are for a trophy.
But the 32-year-old defender is not so selfish that he has to be the man to lift silverware should the Toffees end a 26-year wait.
“I’m not even thinking of that,” said Coleman after Carlo Ancelotti’s side needed extra time to beat Championship strugglers Rotherham in this third-round FA Cup clash.
“I don’t have that type of ego that I want to win it for me, as captain.”
Coleman has been responsible for educating newcomers to the club about how much it would mean to be the first Everton side to win a trophy since Joe Royle’s team lifted the FA Cup in 1995.
But he does not want it to take their focus off the league campaign, where Everton are seventh in the table after 16 games, with only goal difference keeping them out of the top four.
“Listen, I make people aware of it,” said Coleman (circle, top). “I’ve been here 11 years and we had a talk at the start of the season, when we discussed what we want from this season.
“But I think the conclusion we came to was you can’t really think that far ahead. I think we need to be the best we can be every single day and be so competitive in every single game and just take one step at a time.
“Because if you put all your energy into winning a cup from the start of the season and keep emphasising it, then you can take your eye off other things.
“So I think we came to the conclusion of, every day, be the best we can be in training, do things properly around the training ground and, yeah, that is the bigger goal and that is what this club needs.
“And that’s what this club will get - whether it’s with or without this current group of players - if it takes some time, I don’t know, but it will happen and we’ve all got to believe that.”
Everton will certainly have to be better than this if they are to win this competition this season.
It looked like it would be a comfortable afternoon when Cenk Tosun scored his first Everton goal for 14 months in the ninth minute.
But they could not extend their l lead d and failed to hit the target again before Matthew Olosunde equalised for Rotherham.
The home side rode their luck, but Abdoulaye Doucoure netted three minutes into extra time to book a place in today’s fourth-round draw and spare the blushes of Ancelotti (above) and his men.
“I’m proud of the lads and they make my soul shine on a daily basis,” said Millers boss Paul Warne. “For us to come here and compete against a team three or four points off the top of the Premier League shows how well we performed, so I’m proud of that.”
EVERTON: Olsen 7, Coleman 6, Godfrey 6, Keane 6, Digne 5 (Mina 66, 6), Davies 5 (Sigurdsson 66, 6), Gomes 5, Iwobi 5 (Doucoure 61, 7), Rodriguez 6 (Nkounkou 95), Gordon 6 (Bernard 61, 6), Tosun 6 ROTHERHAM: Blackman 7, Olosunde 8 (Jones 90), Ihiekwe 6, Wood 6, MacDonald 7, Harding 6 (Clarke 83), Lindsay 6 (Jozefzoon 76, 6), Barlaser 6, Wiles 7, Crooks 7 (Vassell 67, 6), Smith 7 (Hirst 76, 6)
MOTM
MATTHEW OLOSUNDE (ROTHERHAM)