Yesterday Was A Bit Like Christmas..........

[DI Mike Dashwood]

You knew it was coming, you were really excited it was coming, you planned for it for weeks, you had a great time and saw different people and some old faces, there were a few anti climatic moments and then when it was done, you were quite glad it was over and that things will get back to to normal. Well thats what I feel like anyway.

It was a great day I thought. Our little Club took 1,900 people halfway across the country, made some noise, put up a decent fight and came away as a Club in general with a lot of credit.

It appeared (or where we went it was case) that the Everton fans were a very friendly, old fashioned bunch. Love their football and their City, but very welcoming of everyone. A number of their fans in the Park End made a point of staying to applaud our players and fans at the end which was nice touch. Martinez showed great respect to us and the FA Cup with the team he fielded and the way the team played (unlike his counterpart from across the Stanley Park). Was also great to see all the things a Club like Everton do with young fans before the game and at half time, and the number of disabled supporters in the ground for the game. They claim to be the peoples Club and from what I saw yesterday, it would be a fair claim. Would be nice for a club like them to go on and win it (and we could say we lost to the winners!!!).

As for us, it was strange performance in many ways. A lot of people were saying we should have been a lot more up and at em, and got into them more, but I think the danger with that would have been we could have been picked off easily and been thumped!!! My biggest worry was getting done by 6 or 7, which in the end never looked like happening. It is also harder to take that approach on a pitch like that. At our place they would have struggled to ping the ball around as they did, but on that lawn they may well have walked through us if we weren't set up well. Also needs to be remembered that we were missing a number of people who had been playing recently for various reasons. Saying that, the lad from Forest was superb. If we have him at the back for a few weeks we should be hard to beat. Hardly played a first team game before and came in and played like that at 24 hours notice, in front of 31,000 people. Very impressive!!!

The train home was a great laugh, met lots of people as always, a number of the Board came and had a chat and thanked everyone for their support, and even the Plod seemed to have developed a sense of humour for the day!!!

It wasn't perfect, in terms of the result or maybe the performance, but we can all add Goodison Park to the list of famous places where we have watched our Club compete for the afternoon. And like Christmas, we know that a day out like that will come round again at some point!!!

Meantime, lets get those three home points on Saturday!!!

[Dr Monkatron]

Good post Dashers, I thought the defence looked solid yesterday and to only be outdone by 2 set pieces from a strong Premier League side is extraordinary. I would've liked us to go for it a bit more in the last 10 when it was still 1-0 but maybe the bigger picture is to keep the shape and take that into the next games. The excited supporter in me wanted us to chuck 8 up front and go for it but in reality we need to build foundations to enable us to move up the table and plus they had the players to rip us a new one if we did expand it. If it works against Everton, it'll work against lesser opposition.

All in all a great day and a great atmosphere. And I loved Goodison, felt like a good old fashioned type of ground.

[DI Mike Dashwood]

I think we all would have liked to see us have a real go in last 15 or 20 minutes, and that's why it wasn't quite the perfect day, but it was still a good effort I thought.

Of all the big grounds we have gone to I enjoyed yesterday most, for various reasons.

[Dagger83]

It's always a tough one. Go attacking too soon and you could get spanked, go too late and you're too knackered.

I did think there was a spell around the 75-80 mark when we could have built a bit of momentum but Everton were head and shoulders above us in all honesty.

I had a great day though. Their fans and stewards were very welcoming and although we hardly had a sniff, I enjoyed the game.

I stayed in Liverpool last night and have just got home. Visited the Beatles Story Exhibition today, that was good too. Let's hope we don't have to wait as long for the next 3rd Round tie!

[Pondfield Dagger]

didnt realise how strong evertons line up was till now, all that starting 11 are sh*t hot, ... p*sses you off when you see liverpool, spurs, Leicester's line ups....

robles top keeper, oveido recovering from broken leg, scored some winners in his time-1-0 against man u most notably, funes mori argentine superstar ever present this season, galloway- left back just started 5 year contract, started against stoke few weeks back, gibson, 5 years at man u now 28, besic winner v man city, all the rest of their team we all know well....

that line up should be beating a 3rd from bottom league 2 team 6 7 nil...we got no praise on match of day last night what so ever...`everton looking good` what utter rubbish reporting.....

01 Robles
08 Oviedo Booked
06 Jagielka
25 Funes Mori (Pennington - 49' )
32 Galloway Booked
04 Gibson
17 Besic
12 Lennon (Rodríguez - 89' )
11 Mirallas
22 Pienaar (Osman - 77' )
09 Koné

[Voice of reason]

Great post.
My thoughts exactly
I feared the worst when I saw their line up
As the game went on I could see the difference in our team now we've won a few games and the guys have regained their confidence
Really feel encouraged about the rest of the season

[Auntie Merge]

Exeter v Liverpool on Friday did us no favours.
I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Everton decided to completely change their line up and put out the strongest possible team after seeing that game. Oh for the days where we all kicked off at 3pm on a Saturday. Chances are we could have won 6-0.

[mickeyblue]

Exeter v Liverpool on Friday did us no favours.
I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Everton decided to completely change their line up and put out the strongest possible team after seeing that game. Oh for the days where we all kicked off at 3pm on a Saturday. Chances are we could have won 6-0.

my thoughts exactly

we defending well now as we are set up much better....

[AVincelotFlyingLeap]

I thought Everton were alright, we did stick 8 men behind the ball most of the time so they couldn't just waltz through us. Was difficult to judge them but Lennon looked pretty good and Besic and Gibbo dictated the play in the second half - not that we tried to stop them