Things soon turned sour for the hosts though as Marouane Fellaini was harshly booked by overly-fussy Yorkshire referee Jon Moss – who would later caution Neville for taking a free- kick ‘too quickly’ – and six minutes after Everton had gone ahead, Carlisle were level.

Villain for the first goal, Clayton, redeemed himself by latching on to a back heel by Vincent Pericard and firing past Tim Howard although team-mate Kevan Hurst claimed the last touch as Leighton Baines was unable to clear the ball off the line.

Vaughan had the ball in the back of the Carlisle net for a second time after following up a shot by Cahill which had been palmed away but the effort was disallowed with replays confirming the striker was clearly in an offside position.

From then on, Everton laboured to break down their stubborn opponents who were also employing a 4-5-1 formation. Rather than try and carve Greg Abbott’s side open using the kind of guile expected of a Premier League outfit, the home team relied too often on long ‘hit-and- hopes’ which failed to come off.

Several of those in a blue shirt seemed incapable of turning the screw and the game seemed to pass by FA Cup debutant Diniyar Bilyaletdinov in particular, with the Russian international remaining a peripheral figure for long periods.

Crowd frustrations won’t have helped the new recruit’s fragile confidence but while the third most expensive player in Everton’s history is still getting to grips with the English game, he has already shown a few flashes of brilliance, weighing in with some goals and assists and ironically, given some of his powder puff aerial challenges on this occasion, it was his downward header that played in Cahill for his second.

Indeed, ‘Bily’ got the thumbs up from Moyes after admitting after the game that he’d been off the pace.

The Scot said: "When he came in, the first thing he said was that he knew he didn’t play well. He was the first one to admit that. I think if you’ve got a player who knows that then they’ve always got a chance of getting better – it’s the ones who think they’re doing well and aren’t you worry about."

With 20 minutes left, Carlisle almost went ahead through captain Danny Livesey but the centre-half’s shot was deflected on to the crossbar by a finger-tip save by Howard and the let-off enabled Everton to eventually plough on for their victory.

A groin strain forced Tony Hibbert to exit the contest with 10 minutes remaining but his replacement, the more attack- minded Seamus Coleman, provided the lofted cross that brought Everton’s crucial second goal just a couple of minutes later as Bilyaletdinov headed down to Cahill who followed up his initial shot, which was blocked by Ian Harte to slot under Collin’s body.

Although the tie was won, Everton added a flattering third with virtually the last kick of the game in the 93rd minute as Baines’ low penalty to Collin’s left sent the keeper the wrong way after he had been booked for bringing down substitute Kieran Agard who had been played through by Fellaini.

After waiting more than two years to score, goals have come along in pairs for Vaughan.

He and his Everton team-mates will now hope the same applies with FA Cup finals.