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VIEW MATCH REPORT

Thursday 19 Jan 2006
Everton 1-0 Millwall
Tim Cahill scored the only goal to see Everton proceed to the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Millwall old boy Cahill scored the only goal of the game to dump his old club out of the FA Cup in the 72nd minute when he broke into the box to convert James Beattie's cross, and in all honesty Everton should have won the match by a far more convincing margin. Everton were giulity of some awful finishing especially from the out of favour Kevin Kilbane.

Everton began the game brightly, Leon Osman seeing a header clear the crossbar from a Mikel Arteta free-kick before he then blazed over from around 20 yards.

On 13 minutes the ball broke to Portuguese defender Nuno Valente on the edge of the Millwall area but he could only shot disappointingly wide of Andy Marshall's post.

Millwall wasted no time in getting the ball forward, however, and the Everton defence often looked a little creaky as it came under aerial bombardment. Millwall may not play pretty football, but at times it can be effective. David Weir was forced off the field after 29 minutes with blood pouring from a head wound accidentally inflicted by team-mate Kevin Kilbane.

Millwalls best chance of the first-half came just after the half hour mark when Jody Morris picked up a poor clearance from Cahill and his long range effort looked like it might dip enough to sneak under Nigel Martyn's crossbar.

The second-half saw an injection of urgency, as both teams began to show more composure on the ball. Seven minutes into the restart Marshall acrobatically tipped over Cahill's close-range header after he had worked himself onto the end of a cross from the impressive Osman.

With an hour on the clock, Everton should have taken the lead. Osman ran at a retreating Millwall defence before hitting a scuffed shot towards Marshall. The Lions keeper failed to collect the shot, however and, with the goal at his mercy, it looked easier for the arriving Kilbane to score than miss.

But the Irishman twisted himself into a horrible shape before spooning his finish both high and wide of the gaping goal. He almost made amends a few minutes later, but this time his header bounced back off the post as Everton looked to up the tempo and take the game to their Championship visitors.

When the goal did finally arrive it was little more than Everton deserved. James Beattie picked the ball up on the right wing before arrowing a tempting cross into the Millwall area. Cahill managed to get to the ball just ahead of his marker, sliding across the turf as he applied the finishing touch from 10 yards out.

Three minutes later and the lead was almost doubled. Beattie slipped in another right wing cross, but this time it slammed into defender Zak Whitbread, whose blushes were saved only by the intervention of Marshall's left-hand upright.

Millwall tried to respond but their approach was all too predictable as time and again they looked to turn the Everton defence by playing the direct ball in behind them. After a bustling performance at The Den, it became apparent over the ninety minutes why David Tuttle's men are struggling at the foot of The Championship.

Beattie came close as the game petered out in the dying minutes but David Moyes will be happy with the professional manner in which his men dismissed a lively Millwall side whose lack of invention ultimately proved to be their undoing.