Everton skipper Phil Neville scored the decisive spotkick to give his side a 4-3 penalty shootout win over holders Chelsea after their FA Cup fourth-round replay ended in a 1-1 draw after extra time at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Neville fired past Petr Cech after Ashley Cole had blasted his penalty high and wide as Everton completed a remarkable fightback and ended Chelsea’s dreams of becoming the first club for 125 years to win the FA Cup three times in succession.
After the teams fought to a goalless stalemate in 90 minutes of end-to-end soccer, Chelsea took the lead in the last minute of the first period of extra time when Frank Lampard scored with a low volley from eight metres out.
That appeared to be enough to see Chelsea through, but with a minute of extra time remaining Leighton Baines equalised with a left-footed free kick to force the match into a shootout.
Everton trailed 2-0 on penalties after Lampard and Didier Drogba scored from their spotkicks and Baines, who minutes earlier had saved the tie, saw Cech save his penalty.
Phil Jagielka scored to pull Everton back to 2-1, before Chelsea’s Nicolas Anelka had his spotkick saved by Everton keeper Tim Howard and Mikel Arteta scored to make it 2-2.
{{/usCountry}}Phil Jagielka scored to pull Everton back to 2-1, before Chelsea’s Nicolas Anelka had his spotkick saved by Everton keeper Tim Howard and Mikel Arteta scored to make it 2-2.
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