FA Cup: Five-minute spell bewilders Everton

Middlesbrough 3 Everton 0

A blistering spell of three goals in five first-half minutes left Middlesbrough with one foot in the FA Cup semi-finals.

Everton collapsed dramatically when Noel Whelan, Szilard Nemeth and Paul Ince profited as the visitors’ defence fell apart.

Greening was causing plenty of trouble, while Szilard Nemeth was doing likewise down the right.

One fine cross from the Slovakian front man in the 22nd minute was met by a strong-running Robbie Mustoe, whose downward header was saved on the line by the diving Steve Simonsen.

The Toffees goalkeeper was having an excellent game in goal, catching bravely and not frightened to hurl himself through attackers to get to the ball.

Whelan at one point felt the full force as he dangerously dangled a leg at the goalkeeper and was hurt for his troubles, limping off behind the goal where he got no sympathy from the massed Everton ranks.

Everton’s lightweight front pair of Radzinski and Moore were getting little joy out of Gareth Southgate and Festa, which meant the ball kept coming back at the Everton defence.

And that finally took its toll as Boro struck three times in five minutes through Whelan, Nemeth and Ince.

After playing so well, it was cruel that Simonsen should be involved in the calamity that presented Whelan with the first on 35 minutes.

The goalkeeper and full-back Alessandro Pistone got in an awful mess on the edge of the box, collided, and left Whelan with an empty net to fire into.

Everton were still reeling when Boro broke quickly and Alen Boksic was put through into acres of space behind Unsworth on the right.

Simonsen deflected his shot onto the crossbar but Nemeth arrived to head home from a yard out, and on 40 minutes it was three.

Ince, who had been abused by Everton’s fans throughout for his Liverpool connections, exacted revenge and performed a jubilant cartwheel in front of the travelling fans after firing home from six yards when Simonsen palmed Boksic’s shot into his path.