FA CUP SIXTH ROUND Sunderland 0 Everton 2:THERE WILL be no tangible reward to further highlight Martin O'Neill's turnaround of Sunderland fortunes. Not this season, at least. Thoughts of O'Neill's stock in these parts rising even further, towards that of a messiah by claiming Sunderland the FA Cup for the first time since 1973, were extinguished by an excellent and dominant Everton display.
It means Merseyside will descend on Wembley for a semi-final which marks a fitting occasion – and one to relish – for another manager. David Moyes, who has done such a fine job at Goodison Park, would love nothing more than to mark a decade in his post with an FA Cup final appearance.
Everton’s complete dismissal of Sunderland in this replay will be regarded by many as a surprise. To others, it will rightly be the latest endorsement of Moyes’s capabilities. Everton had their last-four place all-but booked just 12 minutes into the second half.
Everton were backed by a sizeable and vociferous travelling support, with seats at a similar premium in the home sections of the Stadium of Light.
It was little surprise, then, that the game opened at an almighty lick. By the interval, it had just about slowed down to a blur. Everton claimed all the early impetus, something not prompted by ideal preparation. The visiting coach had only arrived here an hour before kick-off, having been held up in traffic. Nikica Jelavic miscued a header from Leon Osman’s cross, before Tim Cahill was denied by Simon Mignolet after 19 minutes. Having beaten Sotirios Kyrgiakos to a Darron Gibson cross, Cahill watched Sunderland’s goalkeeper use excellent reflexes to bat the ball away. At that early juncture, O’Neill had cause to fret about Everton’s success from balls lofted into the penalty area.
Yet it was quite the opposite which triggered the opening goal the visitors fully merited. Marouane Fellaini’s pass found the advancing Magaye Gueye, who in turn supplied a low cross for Jelavic. The striker, who has adapted seamlessly to the English game since moving south from Rangers in January, peeled away from the Sunderland defence before slotting home. The entire move was as blissfully simple as it was effective.
Jelavic’s intervention roused Sunderland. Only a superb Leighton Baines tackle denied Nicklas Bendtner an almost certain equaliser, with Everton otherwise untroubled before the break.
Everton’s start to the second period was brisk. Leon Osman volleyed narrowly wide of the Sunderland upright, before the episode of high farce which represented the second goal arrived. Fellaini mis-placed a pass to Jelavic, yet the striker was still able to slide an angled shot towards goal. David Vaughan, who had only been introduced from the Sunderland bench two minutes earlier, was under no opposition pressure to clear but proceeded to play the ball off his standing leg and into the net.
Guardian Service
SUNDERLAND:Mignolet, Bardsley, Kyrgiakos (Vaughan 53), Turner, Bridge (Campbell 63), Larsson, Cattermole, Gardner, McClean, Sessegnon, Bendtner. Subs Not Used: Gordon, Kilgallon, Ji, Meyler, Elmohamady. Booked: Bardsley, Larsson, Cattermole.
EVERTON: Howard, Neville, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Gibson, Fellaini, Gueye (Jagielka 81), Osman, Cahill (Hibbert 90), Jelavic (Stracqualursi 87). Subs Not Used: Hahnemann, McFadden, Anichebe, Duffy. Booked: Gibson, Gueye, Fellaini, Jelavic, Heitinga.
Referee: Lee Probert(Wiltshire).
