Everton cruise past Cheltenham

Everton cruised past Cheltenham last night with a 5-1 away victory in the third round of the FA Cup.

As a traditionalist it made me very proud to see David Moyes selecting a full strength side for this fixture. There wasn't eight or nine changes like other Premier League sides were making or fielding a bunch of youth team players, Moyes selected pretty much his best side available.

The reason for his selection he explained prior to kick off was that we unfortunately do not have the UEFA Champions League or Europa League's to consider and neither do we have a Capital One Cup semi-final this week, so when we want to win the competition lets give it the respect it and Cheltenham deserve.

The League Two side started brightly, probably buoyed by the fact that we had named such a strong side. The crowd got behind them and it was a real proper old fashioned FA Cup tie, for about 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes with Everton 2-0 up following goals from Jelavic and a penalty from Baines the contest was pretty much over.

Three more goals in the second half followed by Osman, Coleman and Fellaini, whilc Cheltenham ensured another game without a clean sheet for Everton with Penn scoring after 51 minutes.

'We knew that it would be hard going because they have a good record at home but we got goals at important times. We got one early and then scored a penalty to settle it down. Cheltenham came back into it and it was probably not comfortable until we got the fourth. Moyes told The BBC.

He continued: 'I wasn't overly pleased with how we played, we never really got control of the game. We were up against a spirited Cheltenham team who will have lifted themselves for the game and they have a great home record.

'When you are manager there is always a bit of pressure not lose. There is always an expectancy to win with these games and thankfully we did.'

Everton still have to wait to discover who our opponents in the FA Cup fourth round will be, with Bolton Wanderers and Sunderland set to play a replay to host the game.

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