Everton 1 – 1 Fulham [6 – 7 on pens]
Everton hauled themselves back to 1-1 against Fulham and were one kick away from the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup but an awful penalty by Amadou Onana and a miss by Idrissa Gueye allowed Fulham to win the decisive penalty shoot-out at Goodison Park.
Sean Dyche had thrown Beto on as a second-half substitute to rescue the Toffees for a second time in this competition and he responded with a goal in the 82nd minute that sent this quarter-final tie to the lottery of penalties.
The Portuguese’s header cancelled out Michael Keane’s unfortunate first-half own goal and was reward for Everton’s determination even if the performance as a whole on a windswept Merseyside evening left a lot to be desired.
However, after Bobby Decordova-Reid had become the first player in the shootout not to score when Jordan Pickford out-witted him and saved his placed spot-kick, Amadou Onana just had to score to send the Blues through. Unfortunately, he presented Bernd Leno with what was tantamount to a backpass and Tosin Adarabioyo eventually won it after Gueye had hit the post.
The hosts, playing without the injured Abdoulaye Doucouré and Vitalii Mykolenko, had had the better of the first half but couldn’t quite find each other in the opposition penalty area until Dominic Calvert-Lewin chased down an excellent ball down the line by James Garner with the outside of his boot.
The striker kept it in and laid it back to Dwight McNeil but the winger lashed his shot from the angle over the bar.
Branthwaite, playing left-back to accommodate Keane at centre-half alongside James Tarkowski, was picked out by Jack Harrison on the half-hour mark but his header at the back post couldn’t unduly trouble Leno.
Fulham had been better in possession and with their use of the ball but hadn’t threatened Pickford’s goal until Keane was harshly adjudged to have fouled Rodrigo Muniz and, just as surprisingly, was booked for mild dissent.
Willian drove the resulting free-kick under the wall and missed the post by inches but just a minute later it was 1-0 to the visitors. Keane got too tight on Muniz and was rolled by the striker who found Willian, he played in Antonee Robinson in on the overlap and the full-back’s cross took a decisive touch off Keane’s shoulder and flew past Pickford into the net.
Everton largely toiled in the second half trying to find a way back into the game, often resorting to direct, long balls that were meat and drink to Tosin who nullified Calvert-Lewin in the air throughout his time on the pitch.
The closest the hosts came to levelling before Beto replaced DCL was when Harrison unleashed a drive from 25 yards that flashed just past Leno’s left-hand post.
Fulham, meanwhile, had gone close when Harry Wilson smashed a half-volley over the crossbar and Alex Iwobi had forced Pickford into a smart parrying save midway through the second period with a bending shot from outside the box.
The introduction of Beto and then Arnaut Danjuma made the difference for Dyche’s side, however. The Dutchman collected the ball down the left and delivered a hard, low cross that bounced off a defender to Garner near the penalty spot. His half-volley also hit a defender’s leg but bounced up invitingly for Beto to nod past the keeper from close range.
Danjuma cracked a volley wide and Keane was in the right place to block a shot from Paulinha in stoppage time before referee Graham Scott blew the final whistle to signal penalties.
Everton were perfect with their four spot-kicks, despatched confidently by Beto, McNeil, Keane and Danjuma, while Pickford came very close to keeping out efforts from Tom Cairney and Paulinha before he called Decordova-Reid’s bluff and made a comfortable save to set up the match-winning kick for Onana.
The Belgian failed to meet the moment, taking a short run-up and rolling a lackadaisical finish straight to Leno and while Tarkowski and Garner put their penalties away with aplomb, Gueye’s was fractionally off target and came back off the post before Tosin stroked home to send Fulham through.
This was the third time in five seasons that Everton have failed at the quarter-final stage of this competition, each time not really doing themselves justice when a gilt-edged opportunity to progress and put themselves two games away from Wembley presented itself.
The focus now switches to Saturday’s trip to Tottenham when the Premier League campaign continues.