On World Book Day, Everton found likely heroes ready to write new chapters for the annals of the club’s history in short supply.
The FA Cup was supposed to offer some respite for the Blues from what has been a fitful Premier League campaign but never mind the incessant drizzle that had engulfed the city all day, Frank Lampard’s side made heavy weather of their National League opponents.
Although Joe Royle, the legendary manager of Everton’s last triumph in this competition back in 1995 – after taking charge earlier that season in a year that Liverpool won the League Cup if you’re searching for some kind of lucky omen – was an interested spectator from the Main Stand, the class of 2022 possessed little resemblance to his fabled ‘Dogs of War.’
Lampard has rightly been hailed as a breath of fresh air since taking charge just five weeks ago but repeating predecessor Rafa Benitez’s trick of starting with five defenders against lower division opposition in this competition, his starting selection for this tie against opponents some four divisions and 78 places below them in the football pyramid, seemed to lack ambition.
While Boreham Wood’s run to the last 16 of this season’s competition has been one of the FA Cup’s modern day fairy tales, there wasn’t much magic on display here from either side for a tie that despite being shown live on ITV, still attracted a capacity crowd.
The visitors were content to sit back and seemingly play for penalties from the very start through a combination of time-wasting and rough tactics but as the Premier League outfit, the emphasis was very much on Everton to take the game to them.
But despite predictably enjoying the vast majority of possession, they just weren’t slick enough to find an early breakthrough.
With no Kevin Sheedy to wave a wand of a left foot like on the famous visit of another non-League side from the fringes of Greater London when Woking came to Goodison in 1991, it was Salomon Rondon who ultimately proved the match-winner with a simple near-post finish and then a header.
It wasn’t pretty but Everton, who must now travel to one of the capital’s less glamorous corners with a quarter-final trip to Crystal Palace, now find themselves 90 minutes away from Wembley.
