Everton scrape past Rotherham, Chorley dump out Covid-hit Derby

Everton substitute Abdoulaye Doucoure scored an extra-time winner as they edged a determined Rotherham United 2-1 in their absorbing FA Cup third round tie at Goodison Park on Saturday.

After 90 minutes the score was 1-1 with Cenk Tosun’s first Everton goal since Nov. 2019 cancelled out by a 56th minute strike from Rotherham’s American right back Matthew Olosunde.

However, three minutes into extra time the hosts got the decisive goal when Doucoure latched onto James Rodriguez’s through ball before sliding it past goalkeeper Jamal Blackman.

With five-time FA Cup winners Everton resting top scorer Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Brazilian forward Richarlison, Turkish international Tosun was handed a rare opportunity to lead the attack and got on the scoresheet inside 10 minutes.

The visitors responded with a string of chances and were rewarded 10 minutes into the second half when Olosunde swivelled in the box before slotting the ball past keeper Robin Olsen.

Everton thought they had grabbed the winner near the end of normal time when Tosun struck in the 86th but his effort was ruled offside by VAR and it was left for Frenchman Doucoure to secure a spot in the fourth round of the competition.

Elsewhere, Non-League Chorley claimed an unlikely place in the FA Cup fourth round as they proved too strong for a youthful Derby side in an extraordinary tie.

Connor Hall and Mike Calveley were the men on target as the National League North side claimed a 2-0 victory in what was theoretically an upset on a freezing afternoon in Lancashire.

Yet with the Championship visitors decimated by a Covid-19 outbreak at their club, the four division gap between the sides was wiped out, handing the initiative to the part-timers.

Derby, with interim manager Wayne Rooney and their entire first-team squad isolating, were forced to field a team made up from their youth sides in order to fulfil the fixture.

With an average age of just 19 and not a single game of first-team experience amongst them, it was an uphill struggle.

That the game went ahead was remarkable in itself. Quite apart from the coronavirus issue, sub-zero temperatures in Chorley over the past week had forced the sixth-tier side to rent covers to try to prevent their surface from freezing. Their groundsman even camped at the ground in a tent to try to keep the pitch heated overnight.