Fulham

2-1

Everton

Inamoto 56

 

Jeffers 90

Malbranque 101

 


Fulham survived the shock of conceding another last-gasp Francis Jeffers equaliser to win a replay that was short of scintillating football but long on spills and thrills.

Steed Malbranque took Luis Boa Morte’s pass into his stride and guided a shot past Nigel Martyn in the 101st minute to earn Fulham a home "London derby" against West Ham United in the Fifth Round.

This was the third meeting of the sides in three weeks, Fulham having beaten Everton 2-1 in the Premiership at Loftus Road before the 1-1 draw in the original Cup match at Goodison. Some biting challenges in the early minutes of last night’s replay suggested a "history". Boa Morte was flattened by Lee Carsley in the third minute and soon after was lunging injudiciously at Thomas Gravesen.

The pace was frantic from the start but there were few clear-cut scoring chances. Boa Morte nipped in behind the defence to take the ball away from Martyn but lost his footing and his effort from a prone position was too weak to find the net.

Everton, with Wayne Rooney as a lone striker, failed to threaten at all until the last couple of minutes of the first half. David Moyse had pushed Tomasz Radzinski forward to give Rooney support and two surging runs by the Canadian international nearly resulted in goals.

A firm left-footer across the face of the goal thudded into the far post and Rooney, a yard from the line, couldn’t react quickly enough to slide the ball in.

Radzinski, again afforded far too much room on the left, then chipped the ball over to the far post where Rooney, coming in at speed, saw his downward header cleared off the line. Seconds before the half-time whistle there was action at the other end as Martyn, 37, sprang to his right to fist Sean Davis’s piledriver round a post.

It was all fast and furious again in the early part of the second half, suggesting that a goal would surely come. Kevin Kilblane must have been shocked that Moritz Volz managed to deflect his powerful header from six yards behind for a corner.

Then, on 56 minutes, Fulham grabbed the lead. Boa Morte’s trickery shielded the ball from three Everton defenders and, as Alex Nyarko stumbled, the ball broke to Junicho Inamoto 25 yards out from goal. The Japanese World Cup star rifled in a shot that Martyn didn’t get close to.

Everton attacked with increasing desperation, now with Jeffers added to the attack in place of Radzinski. The on-loan striker could have scored a hat-trick in the four minutes of stoppage time!

He swooped onto Gravesen’s hopeful punt into the box to flick a header past the scrambling Edwin van der Sar for the equaliser, then lobbed another effort onto the top of the net and bizarrely cleared a team-mate’s shot off the line.

Jeffers missed poorly twice more early in the extra-time period before Fulham fashioned a goal to finally win the tie. Boa Morte, still fit and healthy after countless crunching tackles, had the Everton defence in a spin with some of his trademark close control before slipping a short pass to Malbranque. The Frenchman pushed a low shot through Martyn’s fingers and on into the far corner to win a cracking Cup-tie. A tired Everton side couldn’t conjure up another comeback this time.

Team Details

Fulham: Van der Sar, Volz, Knight, Goma, Bocanegra, Djetou, Malbranque, Inamoto (Petta 97), Davis, Boa Morte, Hayles (Sava 81).
Subs Not Used: Crossley, Rehman, Green.

Everton: Martyn, Pistone, Unsworth, Naysmith, Hibbert, Kilbane, Gravesen, Carsley, Nyarko (Watson 62), Rooney, Radzinski (Jeffers 63).
Subs Not Used: Simonsen, Linderoth, Clarke.

Booked: Carsley.

Attendance: 11,551.

Referee: P Durkin (Dorset). 


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