Everton were in need of inspiration and Tim Cahill provided it eight minutes before the interval.

Tomkins’ cynical trip gave Phil Dowd little choice but to reach for the red card and Saha sent Robert Green the wrong way from the spot.

It was Saha’s seventh goal for Everton but his first in 10 matches.

With confidence coursing through their veins, the second half should have been a procession.

It started off like that as Everton needed just three minutes to make their extra man count.

They were the beneficiaries of some woeful marking as Yobo atoned for his earlier blunder by grabbing his first goal of the season.

The centre-back was able to control Pienaar’s back post corner and drive a low shot through Matthew Upson’s legs and into the corner.

With the Hammers looking increasingly suspect defensively, they were there for the taking but Everton struggled to deliver the knockout punch.

Saha should have done but he nodded Osman’s cross against the post.

Skipper Phil Neville answered the pleas from the Gwladys Street for him to go for goal from long range but sent fans ducking for cover by lashing it high and wide.

With Everton cruising there was a party atmosphere but Luis Boa Morte should have gate-crashed the celebrations.

He wasted a glorious chance to equaliser midway through the second half as he latched on to substitute Carlton Cole’s inch perfect pass but fired tamely at Howard.

The American keeper, who will have been disappointed by the ease at which Kovac’s first-half shot beat him, played his part in the victory by also thwarting Junior Stanislas.

That proved to be the Hammers’ last opportunity as with 13 minutes to go Everton finally got the third goal their football deserved.

Leighton Baines picked out Pienaar and with a deft piece of skill he left Jonathan Spector trailing, got to the byline and produced the perfect cross for Saha to tap-in.

West Ham threw in the towel and in the closing stages Everton threatened to run riot.

Saha should have completed his first hat-trick for Everton after Cahill’s pass presented him with a clear run on goal but he shot straight at Green.

The Hammers shot-stopper then produced a stunning stop to somehow claw away Cahill’s goal-bound header.

It was one-way traffic and the fans lapped it up.

It’s been a season to remember at Goodison and that Wembley showdown can’t come quick enough.