Everton late show sends Liverpool crashing out of FA Cup
Everton boss David Moyes was delighted with the derby win
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Wednesday, 04, Feb 2009 11:39
Everton youngster Dan Gosling scored the winner at the end of extra time to send Liverpool out of the FA Cup 1-0 in the fourth round replay at Goodison Park.
Just as the tie looked to be heading for the drama of a penalty shoot-out the midfielder collected an Andy van der Meyde's cross and evaded three Liverpool defenders before curling it past Pepe Reina.
It was a thrilling climax to a game that had lacked genuine goal-scoring opportunities with both sides cancelling each other out in a hard-fought encounter.
Liverpool played much of the second half with ten men after Lucas Leiva was sent off for a second bookable offence.
That forced the Reds onto the back foot and gave Everton the chance to push forward in search of a winner as extra time progressed and their perseverance eventually paid off.
Xabi Alonso had the first chance of the match but his shot from 25 yards was wide of Tim Howard's goal.
Concern for Liverpool came when an injury to Steven Gerrard forced the Reds captain off midway through the first half.
Although replacement Yossi Benayoun was lively the visitors looked short of ideas without their talismanic skipper.
The rest of the first 45 minutes was a scrappy affair that saw a number of players, including Lucas, go into the book.
Leon Osman came close to breaking the deadlock in the second half, as Mikel Arteta and Tim Cahill opened up the Liverpool defence, but his shot from six yards out came back off the post.
Lucas was then sent off and Liverpool had to sacrifice Albert Riera and leave Fernando Torres up front on his own.
From then on the Reds offered little threat to the Toffees' goal, instead opting to hold out for the draw.
In the first period of extra time Reina had to be at his best to keep out two chances in one Everton move. He was at full stretch to block Osman's long range shot and reacted quickly to deny Gosling on the rebound.
From the resulting corner Cahill almost found the goal but his glancing header faded just wide of the far post.
Liverpool looked like they were playing for a shoot-out in the closing stages and the introduction of van der Meyde for a rare appearance for the Toffees at least signalled Moyes' intent to win the match inside 120 minutes.
His positive approach was rewarded when the Dutchman found fellow substitute Gosling with two minutes to go and he guided a calm finish past Reina to send Goodison Park into raptures.
The Toffees will now face Aston Villa in the fifth round.