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Everton 2 — 1 Lincoln
by James Nalton
at Goodison Park
LINCOLN manager Danny Cowley praised both sets of fans after his side suffered a narrow defeat to Everton in an absorbing FA Cup tie.
Everton scored twice in two minutes through Ademola Lookman and Brazilian winger Bernard, who netted his first for the club with a neat, dinked finish over Lincoln goalkeeper Josh Vickers.
It looked like the Premier League side might run away with it against their League Two opponents, but the visitors showed great character to stay in the game until the end.
They were driven on by their fans and pulled a goal back through Michael Bostwick before half time.
“The noise and the way they drove the players’ energy throughout the game was brilliant,” said Cowley. “If there’s been a better away support at Goodison Park in the Premier League this season then I want to see it, because we were unbelievable in the stands.”
The game was in the balance until the final whistle, with Lincoln troubling the Everton centre backs Kurt Zouma and Yerry Mina.
They looked dangerous from set pieces, and striker John Akinde did well to hold the ball up throughout the game to give his side a chance.
A sold out Goodison Park remained interested until the final whistle, and some of the home fans remained to applaud Lincoln off the pitch at the end.
“Credit to the Everton supporters,” added Cowley. “It is a footballing city, a working-class city, and for the Everton supporters to stay around like they did said everything.
“They saw a group of working-class boys giving their all and we really appreciated it. It was really nice to see.
“It showed respect and that they’re really knowledgeable supporters.”
Everton boss Marco Silva was pleased just to get through, and also acknowledged the input of the travelling fans.
”We achieved the main thing which is to play next round,” said the Portuguese.
“The big support they had today was a very good atmosphere in our stadium. We didn’t score the amount of goals to have a quiet afternoon, and after they scored the game was always open.
“We lost completely the focus and this is something which happens with our team in recent games, and we need to stop this happening as quickly as we can.”
