BOURNE IDENTITY
Everton 0 Bournemouth 2: Antoine Semenyo and Daniel Jebbison fire Cherries to FA Cup fifth round as Toffees come unstuck
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DAVID MOYES urged his born-again Blues to become Wembley warriors – instead they turned into a suicide squad.
Two self-inflicted wounds, one such a catalogue of errors it was almost comical, sent Bournemouth into the fifth round for the first time in their history.
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But for Everton and manager Moyes it was a heartbreaking and humiliating last-ever FA Cup tie at this famous old ground before they move to their brand spanking new stadium next season.
Goodison Park, this bearpit of an arena which has hosted some ear-splitting, bone-rattling clashes over the years.
Yet now Toffees fans will look back on its final knockout fixture with only embarrassment and anger, after a first half fiasco which brought the curtain down in such a pitiful manner.
James Tarkowski’s 'what-was-he-thinking' lunge to upend Antoine Semenyo for the penalty which gifted the Cherries their opener was bad enough. He really should have known better.
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But it was nothing compared to the number of clangers they managed to drop en route to Daniel Jebbison doubling the lead two minutes before half-time.
The fact they tried – and failed - to sign him twice as a kid when his family relocated from Canada only dribbled a touch more salt into the wounds.
No wonder Moyes looked stunned into disbelief in the dugout. Pretty much everyone inside Goodison was rubbing their eyes at the cock-ups being served up.
First that penalty from Semenyo to break the deadlock, when Tarkowski sent him tumbling as he raced onto a majestic through ball from Milos Kerkez.
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With no VAR at this stage, the Everton skipper’s complaints about the foul were as pointless as they were fruitless, and to be fair referee John Brooks was probably correct.
Whether it was equally right not to flag Semenyo offside, though, is another matter. There certainly wasn’t much in it.
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Mind you, Harry Maguire’s Old Trafford winner the previous night suggests that rule doesn’t apply in the fourth round either.
And it was still no excuse for the Blue-shirted blunders that gift-wrapped the second goal for Jebbison…one which ultimately meant the mountain was simply too big to scale.
Again Tarkowski was chief culprit with a crossfield ball from his own box that never went close to a team-mate, but picked up Marcus Tavernier on the right flank.
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His shot pinballed off a penalty box full of bodies, quote possibly even off an arm or two as well, before hitting Jebbison in the guts and falling kindly.
He prodded a shot which came back to him and a desperate Jarrod Branthwaite off keeper Pickford…only for the Cherries forward to poke it goalwards again.
Once more Branthwaite made a desperate, scurrying scramble to try and save the day. Instead the ball trickled into the corner almost in slow motion.
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The way Everton finally showed some attacking gumption after the break bore all the hallmarks of a Moyes ear-bashing that would have come with a post-watershed warning.
Yet even then it wasn’t until the final 15 minutes that Bournemouth backs were truly against the wall.
Three times their woodwork was rattled, twice by Jack Harrison and again from a Carlos Alcaraz free kick, as the substitutes offered a spark those who started never did.
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By that stage, though, it was desperation stakes – and even then Bournemouth could easily have nicked a third when Kluivert came from the bench and caused immediate panic.
And now they’ve got a fifth round ticket at last, you never know. Maybe this year’s FA Cup cake will indeed have a cherry on the top.
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