Everton bounce back at Carlisle in FA Cup

The game should have been somewhat of a celebration for Carlisle, as they played only their second home game since the reopening of their Brunton Park stadium following the devastating floods of Storm Desmond.

Carlisle United host English Premier League outfit Everton in the fourth round of the FA Cup this afternoon bidding to be the giant killing team of the round.

Aaron Lennon teed up Arouna Kone to open the scoring with just two minutes on the clock and the former Tottenham winger doubled the lead inside the first quarter of an hour.

Lennon burst into the box from the right and squared the ball across goal for Kone, who tapped home from close range.

And in the 65th minute, Ross Barkley bagged the third goal for the Tofees. The win provided a timely boost for Everton and their manager Roberto Martinez, four days on from their Capital One Cup semi-final defeat to Manchester City.

Everton have struggled for consistency in the Premier League this campaign and are now 12th in the table after 23 games, having failed to win their last five league games.

League Two Carlisle are the lowest-ranked side remaining in the competition and the only team from outside the top three divisions still in with a chance of reaching the last 16. You don’t know what the pitch is going to be like and they’re always up for it.

A tremendous sense of community spirit followed, with players and staff from the club helping stricken townspeople, and the team were able to play “home” games at Preston, Blackburn and Blackpool while a major fix effort went on at the ground.

Bryan Oviedo combined superbly with Barkley before picking out the England global, who took a touch past Michael Raynes and slotted through Mark Gillespie’s legs. After coming through a few more scares without falling further behind, Carlisle began to exert some pressure again.