Barmby ends the tedium

Once again Everton threatened to embrace embarrassment at Goodison Park last night before finding salvation at the death.

Once again Everton threatened to embrace embarrassment at Goodison Park last night before finding salvation at the death.

An FA Cup third-round replay against struggling Third Division Exeter City had moved to within five minutes of extra-time before the Premiership club managed to strike a decisive blow.

Even then there was more than a touch of fortune to the goal which was to break Devon hearts. John Collins's drive from distance was probably heading wide but after hitting the legs of a defender it fell kindly for Nick Barmby who scored, neatly, from an unsympathetic angle.

It says much about the fading grandeur of this tournament that Everton were doing no more than following a familiar trend by slashing admission prices in the hope of tempting the wavering faithful out on another grey, miserable night.

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Even if the stadium was still awash with unfilled seats it was sufficiently rowdy to keep the neighbours awake.

Exeter refused to play their allotted role of underdogs. That virtually all their attacks ran out of steam before the halfway line was probably inevitable for while Everton are hardly the cream of the Premiership they are well drilled and swift into the tackle.

Just as in the first meeting at St James' Park, Everton almost seemed to take delight in adding lousy finishes to moves of enormous promise. They were queuing up to miss at one point - Kevin Campbell, Francis Jeffers, Don Hutchison, Nick Barmby, all well-placed, all profligate.

As the Everton forwards laboured away without reward, their colleagues in defence stood largely motionless on the edge of their own penalty area, unemployed and shivering.

Exeter's gameplan seemed to be all about damage limitation; if they survived through to a latenight penalty shoot-out all well and good.

And yet the best chance of a dull opening period fell to the visitors, Geoff Breslan steering a low shot tamely into the body of goalkeeper Paul Gerrard

Having been jeered off - and rightly so - at half-time, Everton served up more of the same in the second half. While they always seemed likely to score, their football was so threadbare, particularly in central midfield, that Exeter survived with ease.

As the groans grew louder and louder, the list of miscreants in blue shirts lengthened, Alex Cleland and Mark Pembridge missing relatively simple chances before Barmby finally found the scoring touch.

Everton: Gerrard, Unsworth, Dunne, Weir, Cleland, Barmby, Hutchison, Collins, Pembridge, Campbell, Jeffers. Subs Not Used: Ball, Watson, Moore, Simonsen, Cadamarteri. Booked: Jeffers, Hutchison. Goal: Barmby 85.

Exeter: Naylor, Power, Robinson (Flack 85), Gittens, Dewhurst, Richardson, Rees, Buckle, Curran, Breslan (McConnell 54), Alexander. Subs Not Used: Smith, Boylan, Matthews. Booked: Buckle, Robinson.

Referee: S Bennett (Orpington).