WHILE Saturday’s dreadful FA Cup exit had Evertonians tearing their hair out, Tuesday’s Carling Cup result had Blues scratching their heads after the final whistle.

Joleon Lescott’s desperate own goal in the dying moments obviously gives the Londoners the edge in the tie now, but with only one goal between the two sides there is still everything to play for in the return.

We would have been relatively happy with that result then, especially at half time when Chelsea were well in control and Everton had struggled to summon a shot on target, but then the final whistle brought a feeling that we had passed up a wonderful opportunity to tip the balance of power in our favour ahead of the Goodison game.

John Obi Mikel’s dismissal was an absolute godsend and should have been the cue for Everton to not just level but to push on and get a stranglehold on the whole tie.

Still, one all would have been a good result, only for yet another late mistake to cost us dear.

How much we will rue that moment of hesitation from Lescott and Tim Howard remains to be seen, with the second leg in a fortnight a tough one to call.

The atmosphere promises to be electric and the Toffees are a tough proposition for anyone on home soil.

However, they will be without goal machine Ayegbeni Yakubu and the reassuring presence of Joseph Yobo at the back.

Their absences will be offset somewhat though by the return of Mikel Arteta, and a lot of weight will be on the little Spaniard’s shoulders.

He needs to live up to his star billing if Everton are going to Wembley – his craft and his ability to run with the ball and win free-kicks was sorely missed on Tuesday in a midfield also shorn of the services of Steven Pienaar and Leon Osman.

The harsh truth was that an under-strength Chelsea were cruising until Mikel was dismissed, as Everton struggled to keep hold of the ball and do all the things that have seen them prosper this season.

Going back to last Saturday, it was very lucky for Moyes and for his players that the they had the Chelsea match so soon after their loss to Oldham, as Carling Cup fever served as a distraction and probably saved them from a fair degree of criticism.

It was an extremely poor performance and you really do have to question the wisdom in continually playing these scratch sides for these cup games against lower league opponents.

Surely it would be more restful for the players to go out with something that resembles your best side and stroll into a lead that perhaps lets you substitute handful of stars in the second half rather than hand the impetus to your opponents, damage your own side’s confidence and then end up throwing all your best players on at the end anyway and have them diving around and going in for mad challenges as they try to force an equaliser?

WHEN it comes to dead men walking, it seemed as if Sam Allardyce was on death row longer than that Scottish arsonist who has just been released in the United States.

Newcastle have finally parted company with Big Sam though, after a whopping half a season, leaving the whole country wondering whether the horrible, smirking Alan Shearer is finally going to get off that Match of the Day couch and finally put up or shut up.

Or will he instead do an Alan Hansen or an Andy Gray and continue to pontificate from the safety of the BBC’s television studio?