CARLING CUP: Everton 0, Chelsea 1 (1-3 on aggregate)

Jan 24 2008 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

SO the long wait continues. Thirteen years of domestic cup disappointment for Everton will be extended by at least another 12 months after heartache at Goodison Park last night.

Joe Cole’s magnificent 69th-minute winner proved too great an obstacle to overcome for David Moyes’s side as their Carling Cup adventure ended with a 3-1 aggregate defeat.

Rather than next Wednesday’s home clash with Tottenham Hotspur acting as a dress rehearsal for the February 24 final, it is holders Chelsea who go on to meet their London rivals.

This was Everton’s opportunity to reach a first major final since 1995 and a first League Cup showpiece since 1984.

A mock-up picture on the cover of the matchday programme placed Moyes’s men players beneath the Wembley arch, but they will have to wait a little longer for that vision to become reality.

How Everton will rue the self-inflicted 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge in the first leg, when a 10-man Chelsea were gifted undeserved victory by Joleon Lescott’s unfortunate injury-time own goal.

Moyes believed progress to next month’s final could usher in a new era at Goodison Park.

But while last night may have signalled the end of Everton’s Carling Cup hopes this season, their run in the competition has prompted the beginning of a fresh chapter for the club.

The pain from this setback, while significant, should not linger long. After all, with Champions League qualification in their sights and a UEFA Cup campaign to resume, there is still plenty for this improving Everton to play for this season.

In terms of effort, the manager certainly couldn’t have asked for any more from his players last night.

For almost 70 minutes, Everton went toe-to-toe with their opponents. But class will always out on the big occasion, and Chelsea were just too strong, too good, and too well versed in the art of winning important games.

The home team, particularly in the first half, enjoyed enough possession yet struggled to create clear-cut opportunities from open play against a Chelsea team happy to soak up pressure and play on the break.

Everton’s main threat came from the accurate set-pieces of Mikel Arteta. However, with both Ricardo Carvalho and Alex immense at the heart of Chelsea’s defence, it was only when Arteta varied his delivery with clever low crosses that Phil Neville and then Phil Jagielka engaged Petr Cech in the visitors’ goal.

Those two chances came within 60 seconds of each other when Everton were on top during the second half; within 10 minutes, Cole had landed the decisive blow.

History indicated the size of the task Everton faced. They hadn’t beaten Chelsea in their last 18 meetings, and had only once ever fought back from a first-leg deficit in any cup competition.

That came in the League Cup against Rotherham in 1992, but last night’s opponents were of much tougher stock; this result means that, since Avram Grant assumed the reins from Jose Mourinho, Chelsea have lost only twice in 28 games – and those defeats were to Manchester United and Arsenal.

Despite another failure against a supposed ‘top four’ team, the league table suggests Everton are getting closer. But, as Moyes conceded afterwards, making that final leap into the upper echelons is the most difficult step of all.

The respective line-ups underlined the gap. While Africa Cup of Nations commitments have cut into both squads, Chelsea could go out and buy Nicolas Anelka to replace the missing Didier Drogba.

There was no such room to manoeuvre for Everton, who sorely missed Yakubu, Joseph Yobo and, perhaps most tellingly, the guile of Steven Pienaar.

Although Arteta applied himself with customary aplomb, Manuel Fernandes – handed a ‘second’ debut in central midfield – understandably faded after a bright start while Leon Osman at times looked a player who had only just returned from five weeks out.

This was Goodison Park’s biggest game in almost a decade in front of a packed home crowd desperate for success. Chelsea, by contrast, returned some of their initial ticket allocation and even then the away end still had huge empty spaces.

In the build-up to kick-off, the screens inside the ground showed Everton semi-final triumphs of yesteryear, most notably the European Cup Winners’ Cup win over Bayern Munich in 1985.

Not that the Goodison faithful needed much encouragement. The wall of noise that greeted the players – broken only by a minute’s silence in memory of Wally Fielding – set the tone for a tense first half in which Everton enjoyed the greater possession but struggled to test Cech.

The only time the goalkeeper was called into any serious action was in the 10th minute when a diving Tim Cahill couldn’t quite connect with a Joleon Lescott header from Arteta’s corner, allowing Cech to parry and Chelsea to hack clear.

Andrew Johnson later had a shot deflected into the side-netting, but the visitors weathered the early storm and appeared more dangerous on the counter-attack the longer the half progressed.

Anelka fired straight at a grateful Tim Howard while Florent Malouda culminated Chelsea’s best spell of possession by striking over from the edge of the area.

Everton began the second half knowing they had to score at least one goal in the remaining 45 minutes to force extra-time.

That almost became two within 50 seconds of the restart after Anelka’s shot was deflected on to the crossbar by the head of Jagielka following clever hold-up play by Cole.

The excellent Lescott was alert to nick the ball off Wright-Phillips’ toes as the Chelsea man shaped to shoot and Nuno Valente blocked a Cole drive as the visitors sought to turn the screw.

However, that helped open the game up and Everton came close twice inside a minute to open the scoring.

On 58 minutes, a short corner by Arteta caught Chelsea napping and Neville unleashed a venomous cross-shot that Cech was fortunate to parry out of reach of the incoming Everton attackers.

Then, after another clever set-piece delivery by Arteta from a free-kick on the right, Osman mis-hit a shot into the path of Jagielka, whose improvised backheel was shovelled away by Cech’s foot.

But, with Everton in the ascendancy, Chelsea broke away to score a brilliant goal with 21 minutes remaining.

The otherwise disappointing Malouda’s inch-perfect crossfield 40-yard pass dropped over both Lescott and Valente to the incoming Cole, who controlled with his first touch and lashed home with his second.

Johnson forced Cech into a near-post stop as Everton continued to press but, with gaps understandably appearing in the home defence, Howard had to save well to deny Wright-Phillips and substitute Claudio Pizarro shot just wide.

Everton, applauded off by the home fans at the final whistle, were beaten. But they remain unbowed.