SOCCER/English League Cup semi-final, second leg/Everton 0 Chelsea 1 (Chelsea win 3-1 agg):Everton's Latin motto translates as 'Nothing but the best is good enough'. As their dreams of a first Wembley appearance for 13 years floundered on the rock of Chelsea last night, it was exposed as patently untrue.
The best David Moyes' side could offer could not deny Chelsea their third League Cup final appearance in four years, as Joe Cole's clinical strike confirmed that while Everton have designs on breaking the elite in England there remains a gulf between expectation and reality.
And perspiration and quality. Avram Grant's side, depleted though they may have been, retain the latter in abundance and their place in an all-London final against Tottenham last month was their deserving reward.
In terms of who craved a place in the final more there was no contest. Goodison Park provided Chelsea with the kind of Merseyside welcome usually reserved for Anfield in a Champions League semi-final.
Grant's confession that the competition meant more to Everton after 13 trophy-less years may have riled sections of the home support but it was undoubtedly true.
Moyes' side were fast and furious as they sought to overturn not only a 2-1 deficit but the tide of recent history in this fixture. In 18 fixtures against the Londoners Everton had failed to emerge victorious, a sequence stretching back to 2000, and their hopes of transforming the tie were almost extinguished by Shaun Wright-Phillips inside three minutes.
The winger was the scourge of Everton at Stamford Bridge and so nearly continued where he left off in the first leg. A shot from the edge of the area appeared destined for Tim Howard's goal until Phil Jagielka intervened to deflect the ball inches wide. Everton responded impressively, harrying Chelsea into uncharacteristic errors and holding their composure despite the demands of the night. Too often, however, poor delivery from set-pieces and resolute defending led by the commanding Ricardo Carvalho ensured the pressure on Petr Cech's goal remained minimal.
Cech, whose wife Marina gave birth to daughter Adela yesterday morning, was only once troubled before the interval when Mikel Arteta delivered a rare corner beyond the first Chelsea defender. Joleon Lescott sent a free header towards goal but, despite a fly-past from Tim Cahill, the Czech international saved comfortably.
As in the first leg Chelsea always posed the greater threat, the movement of Wright-Phillips and Nicolas Anelka keeping the Everton defence on the back foot whenever the visitors broke although Lescott's defensive display will not have gone unnoticed by the watching Fabio Capello.
Anelka twice tested Howard from awkward angles but Florent Malouda should have capitalised on a loose ball that sat up perfectly for the France international on the stroke of half-time. Instead, a half volley high into the Gwladys Street granted Everton a reprieve.
The home side enjoyed even greater fortune moments after the restart as Chelsea's superior passing and movement began to tell. Joe Cole, increasingly to the fore, opened the Everton defence with a penetrating run down the right. His shot blocked, the ball reached the lurking Anelka and but for another vital deflection from Jagielka that diverted the striker's effort onto the bar, the Frenchman would have emphatically delivered his first Chelsea goal.
Vital last-ditch interceptions from Arteta and Lescott prevented Anelka and Wright-Phillips seizing upon Everton slips respectively, with the England international also given the benefit of the doubt when he took the striker's legs and then the ball inside the area.
Goodison's best hopes rested on a set-piece, providing they could get the delivery right of course, and twice they almost succeeded. Phil Neville whipped a short corner from Arteta across the Chelsea area that Cech could only parry.
Fortunately for the new father, the spillage rolled through the legs of Andrew Johnson and into safety. Another neatly-worked corner from the Spaniard gave Leon Osman a sight of goal and Jagielka the chance to back-heel his miss-hit shot towards Cech. This time the Chelsea goalkeeper made no mistake.
With such a solid platform and pace in attack the visitors had the personnel to exploit Everton's increasingly desperate search for a breakthrough. They did so in the most exquisite fashion 21 minutes from time, Malouda instigating the move that settled the contest with a raking 50-yard pass over the home defence.
For once, Lescott and Nuno Valente lost their man and with a sublime piece of control and equally accomplished finish inside Howard's near post, Cole sent Chelsea to Wembley.
EVERTON:Howard, Neville, Jagielka, Lescott, Nuno Valente, Osman, Cahill, Carsley (Anichebe 70), Arteta, Fernandes (Vaughan 78), Johnson. Subs not used: Wessels, Hibbert, Stubbs. Booked: Carsley, Fernandes, Nuno Valente, Neville.
CHELSEA:Cech, Belletti, Carvalho, Alex, Bridge, Makelele, Malouda (Ashley Cole 90), Sidwell, Joe Cole (Pizarro 82), Wright-Phillips, Anelka (Ben-Haim 90). Subs not used: Cudicini, Ferreira. Booked: Makelele, Belletti.
Referee:Steve Bennett (Kent).
The Final
Chelsea v Tottenham
Venue: Wembley Stadium
Date:Sunday, February 24th
Kick-off:3pm
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)