EVERTON have played as big a part as any club in history in helping make the FA Cup the greatest cup competition in the world.

Sadly though, it’s our role in frequently giving the competition some of its famous giant-killing moments rather than our own triumphs that have made us leave such a massive imprint.

With all the drama of Macclesfield’s fans putting graft in on the pitch all week to make the game possible, not to mention the brother of you-know-who in their ranks, this tie had all the ingredients of a romantic giant-killing.

Thankfully, the romantics will be disappointed and I doubt one single column inch will be attached to this game around the world.

Fair enough, this was far from a vintage performance from us and Macclesfield did have a few chances, but overall this was a case of job done with minimal fuss.

We’re happy to be through to the fourth round, while Macclesfield will be happy to have put on a good performance and swelled their coffers with a bumper crowd, so it was happy days all round really.

It was quite a rare sight to see our full-backs who were our most prominent players when we had the ball. Leighton Baines continued his good form since coming back into the team, while Tony Hibbert probably touched the ball more in this game than all previous games in his entire career put together.