Everton 1 – 2 Luton
Luton emerged from Goodison Park victorious for the second time this season as Cauley Woodrow grabbed a last-gasp winner that turfed turgid Everton out of the FA Cup.
An unwanted replay at Kenilworth Road was looming as a poor contest between two limited sides dragged into stoppage time when the Blues failed to deal with a corner and the Hatters struck with almost the last kick of the game.
Luton had gone ahead in controversial circumstances late in the first half when Ross Barkley appeared to push Dominic Calvert-Lewin as Alfie Doughty swung in a corner and Vitalii Mykolenko inadvertently headed into his own net.
The hosts eventually hauled themselves back level when Jack Harrison profited from some fortune from Tim Krul who couldn’t keep his low drive out but their attempts to win it late on proved wholly inadequate and they paid the price at the death.
If there were key takeaways from the first meeting between these two sides at the end of September, they were that Everton were highly susceptible to conceding from set-pieces against Rob Edwards’s side and that the combination of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Beto up front in a 4-4-2 just didn’t work.
So it was galling to see Sean Dyche retain that unproven and unconvincing partnership up front and for the Blues to concede from two corners. Worse was the continued deterioration in Everton’s approach play and effectiveness in the final third, where openings to create goalscoring chances were routinely spurned and when rare opportunities arrived, they were missed.
Luton had started on the front foot and sent three efforts into the Gwladys Street End inside the first 5 minutes, Doughty missing the best chance when he skied James Tarkowski’s short clearance over after Mykolenko had been badly caught out by Andros Townsend down the visitors’ right flank.
Everton found their feet, however, and came very close to taking the lead when Calvert-Lewin was played in down the left channel where he centred for Beto who, exhibiting a rare moment of composure, despatched a crisp side-foot shot an inch the wrong side of the upright from the edge of the box.
Elijah Adebayo went almost as close for Luton at the other end after 23 minutes when Morris clipped a ball into the box and the big striker nodded past Joao Virginia but also narrowly wide of the far post.
Mykolenko failed to test Krul when he was picked out in space with an excellent, quickly-taken free-kick by Tarkowski and Dwight McNeil headed a cross straight at the keeper but the best chance of the half fell to Beto. Onana’s shot from 25 yards was deflected heavily into the Portuguese striker’s path but, under pressure from a defender, he somehow failed to even hit the target lunging in on the loose ball.
The Hatters went ahead 6 minutes before the end of the regulation 45, however, when Calvert-Lewin fell forward in his own box trying to meet a low delivery to the near post with Barkley’s hands on his back and the unsighted Mykolenko unwittingly headed into his own goal.
A VAR check did not come to Everton’s rescue and after James Garner swept a late direct free-kick over the crossbar, the Toffees had to go into the interval a goal down and with plenty to think about for the second half.
Dyche opted not to make any changes at the break – in the end, he would wait until there were just 12 minutes left to make his two substitutions – and things might have got worse for him and his side 6 minutes after the restart but, although Morris rose easily above Beto in the box, Virginia made a good save to turn his header away.
Everton were level 2 minutes later, however, when a counter-attack saw the ball arrive with Beto and he swept a pass out to the right wing for Harrison. The on-loan winger cut across Teden Mengi, drilled the ball goalwards and, though Krul looked as though he might save it, it squirmed under his body and rolled over the line.
That should have been the catalyst the Blues needed to kick their performance up a few gears and really take the game to Luton but, instead, it was the Hatters who nearly scored again.
First, an uncharacteristic slip by Jarrad Branthwaite gave Adebayo a two-on-one break with Townsend in support but, rather than play the obvious pass that would have given the ex-Everton winger a simple tap-in, he went for glory himself and Virginia tipped his effort around the post.
Then, in the 63rd minute, they carved Everton’s defence open with ease and when Townsend sold Tarkowski with a turn back onto his left foot in the penalty area and squared it for Morris with the goal gaping, Nathan Patterson denied him by blocking his shot on the line.
Harrison smashed well over the bar and Barkley had a wayward effort of his own that flew well over the crossbar at either end before Beto, played in by Patterson’s ball forward, out-muscled his man and engineered space for a shot but Reece Burke got in the way to block it behind for a corner.
It was then that Dyche belatedly moved to switch things up, removing Calvert-Lewin and McNeil in favour of Youssef Chermiti and Arnaut Danjuma but a Beto shot that he blasted over as he slipped in the 81st minute and a blocked Harrison volley were as close as the Blues would come to winning it.
Instead, it was Luton who seized the moment deep into stoppage time when Morris again won a barely-contested header that dropped to the back post, the ball pinged between Danjuma’s knee and the chest of Woodrow before the Hatters’ substitute prodded it home to send the Hatters through to the Fifth Round.
In all honesty, with Everton’s small squad stretched thin by the absences of Abdoulaye Doucouré, Seamus Coleman, Idrissa Gueye and André Gomes and three Premier League games to come in the space of 11 days, Luton might have done them a favour by settling this tie without the need for a replay.
There is no way that this Blues team playing like that would get anywhere near Wembley so it might be a blessing in disguise that Dyche and his staff can now concentrate on the Premier League where survival is paramount.
On this evidence, though, the manager has a lot of work to do at Finch Farm in trying to get this team playing effective, winning football, something they have forgotten how to do since that impressive spell before Christmas. Certainly, nervy, haphazard, disjointed, kick-and-rush football isn’t going to be enough.