Boreham Wood manager Luke Garrard paid tribute to the ‘frightening’ Richarlison after Everton’s 2-0 FA Cup victory on Thursday night, speaking to The Mail.
Clive Tyldesley said it best. Doesn’t he always?
“A boxing promoter wouldn’t be allowed to put these two in the same ring together,” the veteran commentator said on ITV, as non-league Boreham Wood went toe-to-toe with Everton at Goodison Park.
“But, in the FA Cup, the flyweight always has a puncher’s chance.”
And, for the first few rounds, the underdog went nose-to-nose with their battlescarred opponents. Trading blows until Salomon Rondon’s second-half one-two left Boreham Wood on the canvas, a delivering dizzying blow in the 57th minute before a knockout header on 84.
The last non-league side left in this year’s competition; Brave, belligerent but eventually defeated.
Can Everton win the FA Cup?
A club sandwiched between Wrexham and Halifax Town in England’s fifth tier should can take plenty of pride from the fact that Everton boss Frank Lampard felt the need to bring Richarlison off the bench midway through Thursday night’s clash.
A £40 million Brazil international brought on to break Boreham Wood’s resistance.
“(Everton) went up several gears in the second half when they brought on Richarlison,” says Garrard. “With the way he and Rondon work together, and (Anthony) Gordon, is unbelievable. Frightening.
“To come to Goodison in the first 45 minutes and not concede was immense. And that is 500 minutes without conceding a goal in the FA Cup, so we have to take great pride in what we have achieved.
“I am just gutted we haven’t been able to give our fans a moment. They were colossal all evening and it was a shame we didn’t test Asmir (Begovic) in goal enough. But what we have achieved in this cup run has been fantastic.”
The making of Rondon?
It was hardly a performance that will live long in the memory of Everton supporters. But, despite creeping rather than storming into the FA Cup quarter-finals against such lowly opposition, there were still plenty of positives for Lampard to look back on.
Rondon trebled his Everton tally in just one night. January signings Nathan Patterson and Vitaliy Mykolenko impressed.
And Jonjoe Kenny continued his unexpected resurgence, thriving in three different positions inside 90 minutes while setting up Rondon’s opener.
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