By Rhys Lewis
January 9 2006

Everton will have to face Millwall again in a replay if they are to progress to the 4th round of the FA Cup after drawing 1-1 on Saturday at the New Den. A first half goal from Marvin Williams gave Millwall the lead but a goal 10 minutes from time by Leon Osman forced a replay. The first half was a fairly even affair, Millwall were giving everything while Everton seemed lacklustre and once agains showed why Mikel Arteta should be playing in the middle and not out right. Everton had a couple of chances but when Arteta is not in the middle there is a distinct lack of creativity. The first real chance of the game came from a Tony Hibbert cross but Marcus Bent could only put his header straight at Marshall. It was Millwall that came the closest to taking the lead when Tony Hibbert cleared a Ben May header off the line. Everton should have taken the lead soon after when a poor defensive pass found James McFadden free on goal, 12 yards out but somehow the Scotland International hit it straight at the goalie. Millwall did take the lead just before the break when Marvin Williams ran in behind a static David Weir and lobbed it past Richard Wright.

The second half was a completely different affair with Millwall getting in Evertons half about three times. But they should have made it 2-0 in one of those occaisions minutes after the restart but Williams put his free header over the bar.

From then on it was comletely one way traffic with Everton creating chance after chance. This was down to a few things, Beattie, Ferguson and Osman coming on mainly. It made a huge difference to have a forward line that actually tried plus had some ability. But mainly it was the introduction of Leon Osman that gave Everton that extra spark. James Beattie had only been on the pitch 20 seconds and he had already done more than Bent and McFadden in the whole time they were on th pitch. Right from the off he battled for every ball and it led to him having a shot from 20 yards which flashed over the bar. With 20mins to go it looked like Everton had taken the lead but Mikel Arteta's free kick from 25 yards agonisingly hit the roof of the net with Marshall nowhere. Minutes later it appeared once again that Everton had equalised when Duncan Ferguson met a Hibbert corss but a flying save from Marshall denied the big Scot, it really was an outstanding save.

But Everton were not to be denied. With 10 minutes to go Leon Osman became a hero and scored his first goal of the season to show why he should be in the starting line up more often. His initial shot was saved well by Marshall but Osman was the quickest to react and put the header in the back of the net to send the 4000 travelling Evertonians wild. Osman nearly won it for Everton after picking the ball up on the half way line, driving through the midfield before trying a sublime chip from 25 yards only for Marshall to make 1 final outstanding save. However Everton should have finished off the tie in stoppage time. Some good work from Beattie saw him get in behind the Millwall defence before he found Kevin Kilbane 6 yards out in the middle of the goal with the goalie out of the equation, however the Irish International blasted over with an awful miss.

The replay is on Wednesday the 18th of January at Goodison Park. If Everton play as they did in the second half it will be a comfortable win. However this will rely on Arteta playing in the middle and Osman getting the start he deserves.