Everton 1-2 Luton Town
by James Nalton
at Goodison Park

CAULEY WOODROW’S goal seconds after the five allocated minutes of added time had been played prevented a repeat of this low-quality FA Cup Fourth Round tie.

For most of the game it looked and felt like there would have to be a replay, as these two sides cancelled each other out, and at times cancelled themselves out.

The phrase “no one wants a replay” was rarely truer, and Luton manager Rob Edwards joked that avoiding one was a big reason for the celebrations at the end.

Everton manager Sean Dyche, who was still bitterly disappointed not to progress, described the game as a "scrappy, awkward and ugly affair."

Everton fans shared that disappointment.

After the game there were isolated shouts of dissent from a minority in the home stands, towards a team and a manager who have done well on the whole against the odds this season.

A cup run was what Everton needed. A different competition to focus on, separate from their battle with the Premier League and its profitability and sustainability rules.

The opening goal reflected the quality of the game, in that there wasn’t much quality involved.

Granted, the corner swung in by Alfie Doughty was good, but it looked like it would be headed away by Dominic Calvert-Lewin. A nudge in the back from Ross Barkley sent the Everton striker flying and he missed the ball.

Then it looked like Reece Burke might have been able to get his head to it, but the ball bypassed him and went into the goal, somehow, off Vitaliy Mykolenko,

There was a momentary pause when, presumably, the VAR was checking the push on Calvert-Lewin, but maybe those in the VAR module had dozed off during the dull first half.

Everton usually play in a 4-4-2 formation with one player who isn’t a striker as part of the two behind a main centre-forward.

This time they used both of their target men up front together, and it didn’t really work.

Something was needed from the wingers in this scenario, and they didn’t get it in the first half.

They got something from one of them in the second, however, when Jack Harrison dipped inside from the right past Amari’i Bell and shot low and hard from outside the area.

It was too much for Luton keeper Tim Krul to handle and the ball squirmed under him into the goal.

The wide players combined later on to produce a chance for Everton, but Harrison volleyed Dwight McNeil’s cross over the bar.

Everton’s backup goalkeeper Joao Virginia had played well in the previous round against Crystal Palace and was called upon again to keep Luton down to one goal right until the end.

He saved well from a Carlton Morris header and again when Alijah Adebayo escaped the Everton defence to break through on goal.

The fourth official had indicated that there would be five minutes of added time, but Luton had a chance to take a corner just after the fifth had passed.

With Doughty off the pitch, substitute Luke Berry was on corner duty and whipped it in onto the head of Morris, the Luton captain rising above everyone.

Danjuma cleared Morris’s header but only at Woodrow, who, when the ball eventually landed in his vicinity, fired Luton into the Fifth Round.

Sometimes a game is not defined by its quality but by one moment. Luton Town had theirs here and their pocket of travelling fans celebrated joyously, but it was a game Everton will want to forget.