With the Cup, you just never know. Those omens echoing 1995 where a returning club figure uplifted a difficult league campaign by inspiring a brow-beaten squad that had spent the entire season languishing in the nether regions of England’s top flight to Wembley glory were there as straws to clutch. Then there was the potential romanticism of Goodison Park’s last FA Cup run and the deep-seated hope that she could play a significant part in ending Everton’s 30 years of hurt; that a victory today might throw up another home tie — or at least a favourable enough away game that could lead to a final quarter-final on the Grand Old Lady’s famous old turf.
Depressingly, it was not be. A combination of Bournemouth’s irresistible form, catastrophic defending from the team skipper and the Gwladys Street’s goalposts conspired to bring the Blues’ dreams of a trip to the Capital in May to a shuddering halt. Goodison has played host to her last cup ties, both of them miserable defeats to teams from the south coast — although it’s fair to say Everton made a better fist of it today against Bournemouth under David Moyes than they did in that insipid Carabao Cup loss on penalties to Southampton last September under Sean Dyche. This time it was quality and a rub of the green rather than attacking impetus that was missing, in the second half at least.
The Toffees came into this tie on a high of three wins on the bounce but cognisant also of the fact that two of them came against teams in poor form and with shambolic defences. The Cherries under Andoni Iraola are a tough proposition all over the park and though they certainly rode their luck as the hosts threw the kitchen sink at them in the second half, the two-goal cushion they had been afforded in the first 45 minutes proved to be more than enough. The irony of what happened here back in August when Everton led by the same scoreline with 87 minutes gone probably wasn’t lost on anyone.
With Vitalii Mykolenko rested with a tight calf and Nathan Patterson not risked due to a minor niggle he picked up in training, Moyes made one change to the side that thrashed Leicester a week ago by moving Ashley Young to left-back. James Garner continued in central midfield and new signing Carlos Alcaraz was on the bench, his oh-so-nearly heroic introduction to come in the second half.
Where Everton had flown out of the traps against the Foxes and scored the fastest goal in the Club’s history, they found the early going tough this afternoon, with Bournemouth’s press hemming them in and daring them to try and play through them. Indeed, the visitors almost scored a lightning fast opener of their own with less than a minute gone when Daniel Jebbison almost found himself in on goal and Marcus Tavernier had a shot blocked from the loose ball.
Whilst Beto had a stand-out performance last week, today many of his limitations were, unfortunately, laid bare, not least when he air-kicked an attempted chest and volley in the 18th minute on a rare Everton foray forward. But the best chance of the first half fell to Iliman Ndiaye who dispossessed Illya Zabarnyi, jinked his way along the byline and tried to squeeze a shot under Kepa but the goalkeeper denied him with an out-stretched leg.
Two minutes after that, though, Milos Kerkez turned tormenter again when he played Antoine Semenyo in behind and James Tarkowski’s clumsy tackle brought the Ghanian down in the penalty area. Semenyo took charge of the resulting penalty and caught Jordan Pickford out with a quick turn and shot while pretending to prepare his run-up. The England keeper guessed the right way but couldn’t keep it out.
Semenyo would go close again as half-time approached, Jarrad Branthwaite getting a deflection on his shot that looped across goal and past the far post but the young defender’s central-defensive partner was at fault again shortly afterwards.
Trying to play out from the back with two red-and-black jerseys bearing down on him, he chipped the ball into no-man’s land where Tavernier collected and fired a shot off Branthwaite’s mid-riff. The rebound fell to Jebbison who was initially foiled by Pickford but he could only glove it into the body of the striker who was able to bundle it in.
Faced with a mountain to climb in the second 45 minutes, Everton at least tried to force their way back into the contest. Bournemouth had done well to stifle Garner as the creative outlet in midfield in the first period but the Blues' desire eventually took over before Jack Harrison came on to make a real difference down the right.
Abdoulaye Doucouré’s low cross was missed by Tyler Adams and Ndiaye and Garner’s effort was blocked, Tarkowski narrowly missed getting his head on a delivery that flashed across goal and Harrison teased a cross into the six-yard box that bounced harmlessly wide with no takers.
Then, in the space of five agonising minutes, Everton struck the woodwork three times and had an Ndiaye effort cleared off the line. First, Alcaraz, on for Doucouré whipped a direct free-kick around the wall but saw his shot smack off the face of the upright with Kepa rooted to the spot; then Jake O’Brien planted a far-post header onto the other post; and, finally, Harrison curled another wicked ball into the box but this one also bounced off the frame of the goal.
Bournemouth had their moments to try and catch the Blues out on the break and bury the tie but Pickford foiled Semenyo with a smart save and substitute Justin Kluivert curled over, moments that bookended two last chances for Everton to stage a grandstand finish. Sub Tim Iroegbunam did really well to engineer space for a shot but blasted wide and Michael Keane, thrown up front in desperation in place of Idrissa Gueye, couldn’t direct a late header on target.
On another day, the matter of a few inches here or there might have turned this into an epic FA Cup battle played in front of a packed house desperate to see Everton progress. Thanks to two costly defensive mistakes though, they’d given themselves too much to do against a side brimming with energy and confidence.
There were positives to take, however. Alcaraz showed hugely encouraging drive and purpose from attacking midfield and he was mightily unlucky not to mark his debut with a fabulous free-kick and at no point did Moyes’s men give up and accept their fate. Sadly, they just lacked the quality when needed to salvage the tie.
Lessons will hopefully have been learned at the back ahead of an even more daunting fixture on Wednesday evening when Liverpool cross the Park and Everton resume their quest to ensure they go into Bramley-Moore Dock as a Premier League side. But the dream of a fairytale trip to Wembley for Goodison’s last dance in the Cup will remain just that.