FA Cup quarter-final, Goodison Park

Everton v Sunderland - as it happened

A cracking first half, followed by a decent second, as Tim Cahill cancels out Phil Bardsley's early strike. Replay ahoy!
The 1973 FA Cup final
Bob Stokoe, at the 1973 FA Cup final, sans trilby and flasher's mac, which were presumably delivered by his tailor, in a brown paper package tied with string, at half-time

Inhale. Take a good deep lug of air. What's that you can smell? That's right, it's the familiar Saturday-after-the-Friday-night-before stench of regret, shame and despair. But while those are the top notes, you'll also be getting a healthy whiff of sun-drenched turf, no? For it's quarter-final weekend, the business end of the FA Cup; we're within touching distance of Wembley.

The new Wembley is, of course, an absolute pile. An identikit disgrace. Norman Foster wants shooting. But while Nu-Wembley isn't a patch on the other-worldly wonder of Tatty Wembley, it's all we've got. And it is still Wembley. And it is still worth getting there. And now these two grand old clubs are one tie away from a semi-final at the national stadium. It is on!

Five-time winners Everton, their last victory in 1995, their last final appearance in 2009: Howard, Neville, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Coleman, Fellaini, Osman, Drenthe, Cahill, Jelavic.
Subs: Hahnemann, Hibbert, Jagielka, Stracqualursi, McFadden, Gueye, Anichebe.

Two-time winners Sunderland, their last victory in 1973, their last final appearance in 1992: Mignolet, Bardsley, O'Shea, Turner, Bridge, Larsson, Colback, Gardner, McClean, Campbell, Bendtner.
Subs: Gordon, Wickham, Kilgallon, Vaughan, Meyler, Kyrgiakos, Elmohamady.

Referee: Andre Marriner (W Midlands).

Kick off: 12.45pm.

The teams are out, at a sell-out Goodison. The place is bouncing. What a superb atmosphere. Everton will be kicking towards the Gwladys Street end in the first half. They're in blue, Sunderland in red and white. This has a real classic feel about it.

And we're off! Everton get the ball rolling. Hoof, hoick, skedaddle. It's all a bit hectic at the outset.

2 min: Larsson whips a free kick into the Everton area from the righrt wing. McClean gets his head to it at the far post, but can only flick on, the ball sailing well wide left. A large OOOOOHHHH from both sets of fans, though, with the ball travelling at pace.

4 min: Now it's Everton's turn for some high-speed header action. Coleman finds a bit of space down the right, gets to the byline, and pulls a cross back into the centre. Osman is rushing in, around the penalty spot, and zips a header over the bar. It's a bright start. The fans deserve it, for the noise they're making.

5 min: Larsson sashays down the left and wins himself a corner. He takes the set piece, sending it deep to the far post. Cahill eyebrows the ball out for a corner on the opposite side, with Turner lurking. "Are you actually going to be paying much attention to the game, given that Scotland are playing rugby on the other channel and might actually win one?" asks Robin Hazlehurst, who knows the Guardian too well. "You can give us the odd update you know, as it doesn't seem to be covered otherwise and it's a little early to head for the pub to watch it, especially with two more Guinness sessions, sorry rugby matches, following it directly." Rugby, you say? Bye, then!

6 min: Ah, you know I'll never leave you. But the second Sunderland corner is utterly dreadful. Much more of this rubbish and I'll be off to the Stadio Olimpico before you can say "a little bit of hanky panky in the lineout".

8 min: Gardner puts a leg out on the edge of the area as Drenthe goes to skate past him. The Everton player performs a perfect triple salchow with pike - 6.0, 6.0, 6.0, 6.0, 6.0, 5.9, 6.0 - but nevertheless has been checked. That should be a penalty, but it's not given, the referee no doubt swayed by Drenthe's theatrics. A terrible decision. Seconds later, Neville is booked for a blatant check on Colback. Naturally, the juxtaposition of these two events doesn't please the locals

12 min: GOAL!!! Everton 0-1 Sunderland. What an opener by Bardsley! A free kick to Sunderland tight on the right touchline. They shape to swing one into the box, but the ball's rolled sideways for Bardsley, who takes one touch with his left before hitting a screaming right-footed daisycutter across Howard and into the bottom left corner from 25 yards. That's an absolute belter!

14 min: Everton attempt to come straight back at Sunderland, Osman having a dig from distance. But the shot's well wide left. The away fans are making one hell of a racket, and no wonder. That was a superlative strike. "No matter how souless, expensive and corporate is the New Wembley, we should never forget how hideous was the old Wembley," is the latest, slightly strangely constructed, statement from John Prescott Gary Naylor. "It was great going to neutral grounds for semi-finals - I saw Everton win at Highbury, Elland Road, Villa Park. That's how it should be." Yeah, the semis shouldn't be at Wembley. But while the old Wembley was a pile, it looked damn fine, like no other stadium in the country, a unique stage for the big events. Now? We may as well be staging the FA Cup final at the Riverside, or St Mary's. An identikit disgrace. Norman Foster wants shooting.

17 min: Another corner for Sunderland, again down the left. Larsson takes, and aims for Campbell on the back post. Howard comes for the ball, flaps, and misses it. Luckily his captain Neville is on hand to guide the ball away from danger. Sunderland get it straight back into the area from the right, though, with Gardner heading over from relatively close range. Everton look a wee bit stunned here. "Aren't you glad you stuck around?" asks Jason Graff. "What could be a more glorious or rare sight for a Scotland fan than a Phil Bardsley goal?" Yes, but no doubt congenital loser Andy Robinson's rugby shower are already 21-0 down against Italy. Don't tell me, I don't want to know.

20 min: From the left, Heitinga belts a shot from distance. It's a fair distance wide right of the target, too. The home side don't look happy at present.

22 min: Heitinga has blocked Campbell in the area. It's a free kick anywhere else on the pitch, but never in the area. It should be a penalty, though; whatever usually happens is by the by. The teams can consider themselves level on this score.

24 min: GOAL!!! Everton 1-1 Sunderland. And the teams are level on this score too! Baines grabs himself a yard or two down the left. He curls in a delicious cross, onto the head of Jelavic, standing level with the near post, ten yards out. Jelavic's header isn't great, going well wide right, but Cahill is in line with the ball, and redirects a rat-a-tat header into the left-hand side of the net, Mignolet's feet planted, the keeper unable to move. Goodison erupts in celebration of Cahill's first goal since 1963.

26 min: Bendtner high-kicks Neville in the head. That should be a booking for dangerous play, but the referee can't be bothered making any decisions this afternoon, it seems. Sorry, Everton!

27 min: Cahill bustles and fights and wins the ball 30 yards from goal. He slides a pass out to Drenthe, who's in space, but fluffs the cross. Everton were worse than dreadful up until the goal, but suddenly look very dangerous. "I'm managing to keep an eye on both sports (because I'm not being paid to pay attention to one in particular)," writes Matt Dony, covering the rugby for you so we don't have to. "You're not missing 'hanky panky in the lineout', but 'slow, attritional, re-set scrums.' And that's not the grindingly exciting 'attritional'." You sent me that email about five minutes ago, Matt. Italy could easily have run in three converted tries since then.

28 min: Bendtner has been niggling away at Neville for a while now, and suddenly the referee's patience snaps. The striker nudges the Everton captain in the back, and he's booked for being a persistent, throbbing pain in the hole.

30 min: Turner gifts Everton a corner down the right with a misplaced header. Baines tries a clever short-passing routine with Osman, and makes a proper balls of it. Everton are on top now, though. "Cup semis at Wembley are an abject embarassment," opines Sanjiv Johal, "but try telling that to Paul Gascoigne and Spurs fans of a certain age."

31 min: But here's Sunderland coming back at Everton. There's a lovely fast pace to this game. Colback bombs down the middle of the park and is forced to take evasive action as Heitinga slides in late. He dives over the defender's leg. Heitinga is booked. The Everton man's got the radge on about that, pointing out that his opponent did indeed dive. However, he presumably fails to point out that his opponent only dived to avoid being clattered at high speed. A fair decision.

33 min: Jelavic chases after a bouncing ball down the inside-left channel, and loops a pacy shot just wide left of the target. A decent effort. This is non-stop, a cracking cup tie.

34 min: Bardsley has taken one in the ribs, having clattered into the advertising hoardings behind his goal. Yet another victim of capitalism.

35 min: An Everton corner down the left. Cahill, back on song, leaps above Turner on the penalty spot and meets the ball with a Power Header. The effort's heading for the top left, but Mignolet meets it with the sort of punch that would get you into a lot of trouble in a pub car park. The ball falls to Distin, eight yards out, who should really trouble Sunderland but screws a useless defender's effort wide left. This is a great game.

38 min: A rare lull. "The FA Cup is so much better without the Champions League clubs isn't it?" asks Gary Naylor. Yep. So is the Champions League, come to think about it.

40 min: Cahill has just elbowed Bardsley in the ribs - accidentally, it should be stressed - as the two challenge for a high ball. The Sunderland scorer has really been in the wars. He's clutching his ribs again. I wonder if he'll be able to complete the match? "I'm not sure that Norman Foster actually comes up with the designs for buildings," argues Ian Burch. "He's a bit like Damien Hurst, who gets his minions to do the donkey work and then puts his name to it. I suppose the footballing equivalent is Roberto Di Matteo who has recently taken the credit for all of John Terry's tactical nous." Heh. Well, you might be right about Foster, but he's the one taking all the credit, so he'll be the first up against the wall.

42 min: The zip has gone out of Sunderland's play. Passes that were sticking earlier on are wheeching straight into touch now. They could do with the half-time whistle. Coleman takes advantage of their malaise by bombing down the inside-right channel. He's sandwiched off the ball; that'll be a free kick, 30-odd yards out just to the right of goal. Drenthe takes, and it's a majestic effort, a left-to-right curler that clips the right-hand junction of post and crossbar and pings off into the crowd. So close to the lead.

44 min: Everton ping it around hither and yon. Eventually Osman picks the ball up, 35 yards from goal, and larrups an ambitious effort towards the bottom right. Mignolet is behind it, but that ball will have stung his palms. A rare old belt. Everton are finishing the half strongly.

HALF TIME: Everton 1-1 Sunderland. A ball's swung into the Sunderland box from the right by Fellaini. Jelavic is lurking at the far post, causing Bardsley to head behind. Sunderland clear the corner, sweep up the other end, and win a corner themselves after McClean drops a shoulder down the left. Everton deal with it, and that's that for the half. Sunderland started brilliantly. Everton responded brilliantly. It's been a half of two halves. More of this, please!

HALF-TIME ENTERTAINMENT: Seeing we're in Granadaland, take a read of this slice of comic genius, just in case you somehow missed it yesterday: Marina Hyde on the saucy exploits of Coronation Street legend Bill Roache, aka "the Nikki Sixx of the cobbles".

The teams are back out! Please, please, please don't let this be a dismal anti-climax. The first half was superb, a real old-school FA Cup ding-dong. No changes. Sunderland get the ball moving; they're facing the Gwladys Street end this time.

46 min: Colback has a dig from 25 yards, but it's slow and useless. Howard fields without fuss. "Something of note has finally happened in the rugby," reports Matt Dony. "Football is more exciting. Not just this game, I mean in general. It's a fact." I notice you've not told me the score. I can guess, though; only one team is coached by congenital loser Andy Robinson.

48 min: McClean and Bridge decide to irritate Coleman and Neville down the left, their persistence eventually winning a free kick by the corner flag. Larsson wastes the free kick, attempting a spectacular curling shot into the top-right corner. Come on.

51 min: Cahill has a go from distance, cutting in from the left and unleashing a low shot towards the bottom-right corner. Mignolet is down to palm the ball away, with Bridge on hand to slice the loose ball clear. Not much going on in the middle of the park, which is exactly how we like it.

53 min: This period's not quite got the bite of the first half yet. It seems neither team has decided whether to stick or twist. "There's nothing that Athletic Bilbao can do to threaten the FA Cup's status as the Best Cup in the World - right?" asks Adithya from Chennai. There's nothing that Athletic Bilbao can't do. "PS: My girlfriend has said she'll accept my proposal only if I get a comment published on a Guardian MBM, so you don't really have much choice." Well, no problem, we aim to please. But what proposal? Are you hoping to get funding for a small business? Tell us more.

54 min: McClean slides a pass down the inside-left channel, releasing Bendtner, who takes a touch to the right, and slips the ball into the bottom-right corner of the net. But the striker's this much offside. Good decision. On the touchline, Martin O'Neill dances a little jig of irritation, which nevertheless is a nice thing to do seeing it's St Tiresome Stereotype's Day.

56 min: Campbell has been trying again and again to best Distin down the inside-right channel, but he can't do it. The defender is bossing him up to this point. Anyway, the rugby. "I predicted Scotland to win by 12," sighs Robin Hazlehurst, "and it is safe to say that I am unlikely to be bringing home the bacon for that one. Unless we are talking yellow cards, not points. Exciting is a relative concept, it depends on expectation. The eighth Barcelona goal of a match is not really exciting. Scotland scoring a try for the first time in eight years is so unexpected that it goes way beyond exciting."

58 min: Baines curls one in from the left. Turner heads behind for a corner. Osman swings it deep to Fellaini, level with the right-hand post, ten yards out. Utilising the curly airbag atop his noggin, Fellaini cushions a header down to the penalty spot, where Cahill is lurking. It's a real chance, but Cahill can only sidefoot weakly goalwards. Sunderland breathe again.

60 min: Everton are swinging quite a few balls into the Sunderland area, from left and right, and even getting on the end of one or two, but Mignolet isn't being troubled. The home side are slowly getting on top, though. "If Cahill had two heads attached to the end of his legs rather than feet, he would be some player," quips Sanjiv Johal. "Yes, I shamelessly stole that from Dunphy." Don't worry, he won't sue for plagiarism, I'm sure he appreciates the exposure.

62 min: Coleman and Colback clash down the Sunderland left. Free kick to Sunderland, allowing Larsson to whip one in from deep. Heitinga heads powerfully clear. Sunderland are struggling to get it together going forward at present.

64 min: Baines strokes a free kick into the Sunderland area from the left. Jelavic plants his nut on the ball, 12 yards out, and sends it fizzing just over the bar. Great effort. On ITV, Andy Townsend expresses surprise that a striker from the SPL could possibly be half-decent upon coming down south for a stint. Did we learn nothing from Mark Viduka?

65 min: A deep cross into the Sunderland area from the right. At the far post, Jelavic heads goalwards from a tight angle. O'Shea's waving his arms around in the air, and the ball hits one of them. That should probably have been a penalty too. You'll have certainly seen them given. Then again, you'll have seen them not given, too. Ah, who'd be a referee?

67 min: Distin is harshly booked for a late clip on Campbell. Hmm.

68 min: A corner for Sunderland down the left. Now, then, everyone involved in it should be sacked with immediate effect. It was bloody awful, a professional embarrassment. I'll save any red faces in red-and-white shirts by not going into further detail.

69 min: Turner is harshly booked for a late clip on Jelavic. Hmm.

70 min: Everton are winning headers in the Sunderland area. The away side can't carry on like this. Jelavic sends one goalwards from eight yards, but without much power, Bardsley doing enough to put him off his leap. "Your statement about Goodison bouncing is literally true, not in the Jamie Redknapp sense, but the old lady is predominantly wood, and when the Gwladys end get going I am genuinely nervous," shivers Mavis Cruet. "I do wonder about the wisdom of the Mackems with their flares earlier."

72 min: Goodison's not so much bouncing as simply getting rather tense, as we trundle towards the business end of this quarter final.

73 min: Coleman has a spot of Groin Twang, and is replaced by Gueye.

74 min: So now Sunderland respond with a change of their own. Vaughan replaces Campbell, who has been very quiet in this second half. And wasn't particularly noisy in the first.

75 min: RUGBY NEWS. Well done, Italy! They beat Congenital Loser's XV 13-6. That's the wooden spoon for Scotland, who [digs out Big Book Of Tedious Stereotypes] at least now have a back-up implement for their spurtle.

78 min: It's all a bit shapeless at the moment, neither team in the mood to risk too many players up front.

81 min: Bridge goes on a meander down the left. He's got space to exploit, Drenthe having thrown himself to the floor upfield in the hope of winning a cheeky free kick. The referee is having none of it, though, and only staunch work from Neville stops Bridge getting a dangerous cross into the area. Neville then showcases what he learned from Roy Keane in his time at Manchester United, screaming so loudly at Drenthe that the veins on his temples begin to throb in a frankly worrying fashion.

84 min: Drenthe is hooked by Davie Moyes, and replaced by the striker Stracqualursi. A last throw of the dice by Everton, who won't fancy a replay at the Stadium of Light.

86 min: A clever twist and turn by Baines down the left, involving a volleyed backheel and a 180-degree spin, wins Everton a corner. The ball's hit deep, then sent back into the centre from the right. Heitinga rises and sends a header towards the top left, but Mignolet claws the ball out, almost in slow motion. A brilliant save! The ball's loose, though, Jelavic aiming goalwards from a tight angle on the left. Mignolet gets up, and Schmeicheljumps, blocking the shot and turning the ball out for a corner. From which nothing comes. What a double save.

88 min: ITV yakker Peter Drury can't help himself. He's just compared Mignolet's save to Jim Montgomery's effort in the 1973 final. In fairness, he quickly backtracks, admitting that it "might not have quite the same iconic status", but still. Does everything have to be puffed up into such a dramatic froth?

90 min: There will be three added minutes of this. Goodison crackles with tension.

90 min +1: McClean, in plenty of space down the inside-left channel, blooters a hopeless ball miles into the stand behind the goal. What a waste.

90 min +2: Under a long ball, Stracqualursi and Turner come together in the Sunderland area, but nothing's doing, and rightly so.

FULL TIME: Everton 1-1 Sunderland. Larsson swings a free kick into the Everton area from the left, but no Sunderland head can guide the ball goalwards. And that's it. We'll be going again at the Stadium of Light in a week and a half. "Lucky for the Toffees that Moyes rested players against Liverpool," concludes Niall Mullen. "No-one will remember Gerard's hat-trick but this 1-1 draw is for the ages."

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