' Everton's report/view on the game yesterday '
Sun Mar 16, 2014 8:21 am
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=138103 
Everton FC 2 Cardiff City 1 -
by Richard Buxton, Goodison Park. Published Sat 15 Mar 2014
' SLICE OF LUCK '
For 25 minutes, Everton's bid for a return to European football appeared more strife than stride. Were it not for a last-minute slice of luck, last weekend's FA Cup hangover threatened to loom large as Roberto Martinez set a benchmark of 11 'finals' from his side.
A collective display of elation and anguish between the Blues' players and their Cardiff City counterparts at the final whistle told the story of a tolling afternoon at Goodison Park for both sides. The visitors were undone by two moments of second-half misfortune.
Poor finishing by the hosts and the goalkeeping heroics of David Marshall almost saw Ole Gunnar Solksjaer's Bluebirds garner a hard-fought point from what is still likely to prove a solitary visit to the blue half of Merseyside in the modern era for a few years at least.
Their previous league visit to Goodison saw them suffer an 8-2 reversal. That was in 1962 and while plenty has certainly changed for the Welsh club since that humbling at the hands of Alex Young, Billy Bingham et al, the outcome of their domestic fate may still have historic parallels.
Conversely Everton remain on course to benefit from the additional Europa League place on offer this season although it looked increasingly ominous that Goodison's traditional grandeur would grace the continental stage after a five-year absence for large parts of this encounter.
Kevin Mirallas endured a difficult afternoon in front of goal as he attempted to test Marshall in the opening stages by unleashing a well drilled effort on the edge of the area that the Bluebirds number one had to palm away at full stretch while a defensive mishap from the ensuing corner saw Romelu Lukaku nudge the ball just over the crossbar.
Lukaku later combined with Seamus Coleman to set Mirallas up but his goal bound shot was diverted off course by Juan Cala. At the other end, Tim Howard had to be equal to a low shot by Fraizer Campbell after a series of ricochets allowed the striker a close-range chance just minutes before Gerard Deulofeu tested Marshall from a similar distance.
A lung-bursting run by Lukaku should have handed Everton an advantage deserving of their first-half dominance as he broke down field and unleashed a curling effort from the edge of the area that required all of Marshall's acrobatic skills to tip the ball over the crossbar.
But a lack of urgency in Everton''s overall play after the interval allowed Cardiff to grow in confidence. Campbell was on hand to trouble Howard again with a low drive that the American stopper had to parry.
At the other end, a breakthrough emerged as Leon Osman freed Deulofeu to dance through the Cardiff defence before angling a shot that took a deflection off Steven Caulker en route to the bottom right-hand corner of Marshall's goal.
"He tends to leave it late, I think, Gerard," said Martinez.
"He had 60 minutes to score a goal and left it really late. But I was happy that he is starting to be match fit again and when he gets in those one-v-one situations, he's starting to have a real freshness about himself and that was important.
"I'm sure he saw my intentions and he made sure that he finished with a goal."
Yet Everton's relaxed approach came back to haunt them after Peter Whittingham's free-kick saw their defence abandon watch as Cala was allowed to bundle home an equaliser.
Osman attempted to redress the balance from the restart as he fired a half-volley narrowly wide of goal but further opportunities were spurned as several players, notably James McCarthy, fluffed their lines.
Cardiff sensed an ascendency as they attempted to engineer counter attacks through Wilfried Zaha, sent on in place of former Manchester United teammate Fabio, but was seen off on regular occasions by John Stones and Sylvain Distin.
But Everton embraced the showpiece mentality demanded by Martinez as Ross Barkley fed Aiden McGeady on the left-hand side before his cross to the far post was nodded across the face of goal by Gareth Barry.
With Marshall beaten, Seamus Coleman pounced with a mis-hit shot that looped into an empty Gwladys Street net. Just weeks after being downed by a late winner, the luck of the Irish finally smiled on Everton.
"With 51 points, clearly mathematically we can reach many good spots in the league. The way to approach the last 10 games of the season with that mentality is to be able to play the game for 95 minutes," said Martinez.
"Whatever happens, [we're] always doing the same thing and that needs an incredible resilience, patience and character - and I think we showed that today. The other one is the desire and the concentration of the players to try to get good performances in every game that we go into.
"We're really excited looking at the final 30 points to fight for and we're going to try to get as many as we can."
EVERTON (4-2-3-1): Howard; Coleman, Stones, Distin, Baines; Barry, McCarthy; Deulofeu (McGeady 61), Osman (Barkley 82), Mirallas (Naismith 61); Lukaku
Subs not used: Robles, Alcaraz, Garbutt, Browning
Goals: Deulofeu (59), Coleman (90)
Booked: Osman
CARDIFF CITY (5-4-1): Marshall; Fabio (Zaha 77), Caulker, Cala, Theophile-Catherine, John; Noone (Daehli 61), Mutch (Whittingham 57), Medel, Kim; Campbell
Subs not used: Lewis, Jones, Gunnarsson, Cowie
Goals: Cala (68)
Booked: Theophile-Catherine, Medel,
Referee: R East (Wiltshire)
Attendance: 38,018
Everton FC 2 Cardiff City 1 -
by Richard Buxton, Goodison Park. Published Sat 15 Mar 2014
' SLICE OF LUCK '
For 25 minutes, Everton's bid for a return to European football appeared more strife than stride. Were it not for a last-minute slice of luck, last weekend's FA Cup hangover threatened to loom large as Roberto Martinez set a benchmark of 11 'finals' from his side.
A collective display of elation and anguish between the Blues' players and their Cardiff City counterparts at the final whistle told the story of a tolling afternoon at Goodison Park for both sides. The visitors were undone by two moments of second-half misfortune.
Poor finishing by the hosts and the goalkeeping heroics of David Marshall almost saw Ole Gunnar Solksjaer's Bluebirds garner a hard-fought point from what is still likely to prove a solitary visit to the blue half of Merseyside in the modern era for a few years at least.
Their previous league visit to Goodison saw them suffer an 8-2 reversal. That was in 1962 and while plenty has certainly changed for the Welsh club since that humbling at the hands of Alex Young, Billy Bingham et al, the outcome of their domestic fate may still have historic parallels.
Conversely Everton remain on course to benefit from the additional Europa League place on offer this season although it looked increasingly ominous that Goodison's traditional grandeur would grace the continental stage after a five-year absence for large parts of this encounter.
Kevin Mirallas endured a difficult afternoon in front of goal as he attempted to test Marshall in the opening stages by unleashing a well drilled effort on the edge of the area that the Bluebirds number one had to palm away at full stretch while a defensive mishap from the ensuing corner saw Romelu Lukaku nudge the ball just over the crossbar.
Lukaku later combined with Seamus Coleman to set Mirallas up but his goal bound shot was diverted off course by Juan Cala. At the other end, Tim Howard had to be equal to a low shot by Fraizer Campbell after a series of ricochets allowed the striker a close-range chance just minutes before Gerard Deulofeu tested Marshall from a similar distance.
A lung-bursting run by Lukaku should have handed Everton an advantage deserving of their first-half dominance as he broke down field and unleashed a curling effort from the edge of the area that required all of Marshall's acrobatic skills to tip the ball over the crossbar.
But a lack of urgency in Everton''s overall play after the interval allowed Cardiff to grow in confidence. Campbell was on hand to trouble Howard again with a low drive that the American stopper had to parry.
At the other end, a breakthrough emerged as Leon Osman freed Deulofeu to dance through the Cardiff defence before angling a shot that took a deflection off Steven Caulker en route to the bottom right-hand corner of Marshall's goal.
"He tends to leave it late, I think, Gerard," said Martinez.
"He had 60 minutes to score a goal and left it really late. But I was happy that he is starting to be match fit again and when he gets in those one-v-one situations, he's starting to have a real freshness about himself and that was important.
"I'm sure he saw my intentions and he made sure that he finished with a goal."
Yet Everton's relaxed approach came back to haunt them after Peter Whittingham's free-kick saw their defence abandon watch as Cala was allowed to bundle home an equaliser.
Osman attempted to redress the balance from the restart as he fired a half-volley narrowly wide of goal but further opportunities were spurned as several players, notably James McCarthy, fluffed their lines.
Cardiff sensed an ascendency as they attempted to engineer counter attacks through Wilfried Zaha, sent on in place of former Manchester United teammate Fabio, but was seen off on regular occasions by John Stones and Sylvain Distin.
But Everton embraced the showpiece mentality demanded by Martinez as Ross Barkley fed Aiden McGeady on the left-hand side before his cross to the far post was nodded across the face of goal by Gareth Barry.
With Marshall beaten, Seamus Coleman pounced with a mis-hit shot that looped into an empty Gwladys Street net. Just weeks after being downed by a late winner, the luck of the Irish finally smiled on Everton.
"With 51 points, clearly mathematically we can reach many good spots in the league. The way to approach the last 10 games of the season with that mentality is to be able to play the game for 95 minutes," said Martinez.
"Whatever happens, [we're] always doing the same thing and that needs an incredible resilience, patience and character - and I think we showed that today. The other one is the desire and the concentration of the players to try to get good performances in every game that we go into.
"We're really excited looking at the final 30 points to fight for and we're going to try to get as many as we can."
EVERTON (4-2-3-1): Howard; Coleman, Stones, Distin, Baines; Barry, McCarthy; Deulofeu (McGeady 61), Osman (Barkley 82), Mirallas (Naismith 61); Lukaku
Subs not used: Robles, Alcaraz, Garbutt, Browning
Goals: Deulofeu (59), Coleman (90)
Booked: Osman
CARDIFF CITY (5-4-1): Marshall; Fabio (Zaha 77), Caulker, Cala, Theophile-Catherine, John; Noone (Daehli 61), Mutch (Whittingham 57), Medel, Kim; Campbell
Subs not used: Lewis, Jones, Gunnarsson, Cowie
Goals: Cala (68)
Booked: Theophile-Catherine, Medel,
Referee: R East (Wiltshire)
Attendance: 38,018