Murray Wallace stuns Everton to send Millwall into FA Cup fifth round

Millwall 3-2 Everton: Twice Millwall came from behind with quick equalisers before Wallace’s heroics

Murray Wallace celebrates scoring Millwall's dramatic winner (Reuters)

Murray Wallace’s 94th minute winning goal settled this pulsating fourth round FA Cup tie although Marco Silva’s vanquished Premier League side had cause for complaint in their controversial defeat.

Twice Millwall came from behind with quick equalisers before Wallace’s heroics although it was Jake Cooper’s controversial 75th minute second that would have left Silva bemoaning the fact that VAR is not in use at lower league grounds in this season’s FA Cup.

Had it been, the video evidence may well have ruled out the defender’s dramatic intervention after a Shane Ferguson free-kick had sparked a goalmouth melee, Wallace’s shot had been blocked by Jordan Pickford and an unmarked Cooper turned the ball in with more than a suspicion of handball.

Whatever the legality, a draw was the least Millwall deserved for the fact they had twice replied – almost instantly on both occasions – to going behind.

But better was still to come for Millwall in the last of the four minutes of added time when Shaun Williams’ free-kick was headed on by Shaun Hutchinson and Wallace was perfectly positioned to steer the ball home.

Everton, surely, thought a second goal would be enough three minutes earlier when Cenk Tosun shot his side in front after Idrissa Gueye’s header had been steered towards the Turkish striker by Gylfi Sigurdsson.

Tosun, struggling for football under Marco Silva, did the rest with an accomplished finish for his third goal of the season.

The tie, played in front of a hostile crowd and in equally hostile weather conditions, had burst into life in the final two minutes of the first half, with a goal for each side in what was a finely-balanced contest.

Cenk Tosun celebrates Everton's second goal (Reuters)

The Premier League side drew first blood, thanks in large part to home keeper Jordan Archer who had already demonstrated his nerves with a couple of poor clearances that might have played his team into trouble.

Finally, in the 43rd minute, his luck ran out. Gueye and Andre Gomes teed up Richarlison who suddenly found space to unleash a shot from 25 yards which took a slight deflection off Cooper but still should have presented Archer with no concerns.

Instead, to the disgust of the home supporters who let their feelings known when the New Den big screen replayed the goal, Archer allowed the ball to squirm underneath his body and into the home goal.

It was a credit to Everton, and the professional manner in which they had coped with Millwall’s strong opening to the tie, but Neil Harris’s home side were also deserving of praise, especially for the manner in which they responded to the setback.

In first-half injury-time, the excellent Ferguson was presented with the latest in a long line of right-wing free-kicks which he deposited into the Everton area with great accuracy.

Cooper headed on and Lee Gregory rose powerfully above a crowded defence to power in a header of his own which left Pickford rooted to the spot.

The moment Murray Wallace put Millwall through to the fifth round (AFP/Getty Images)

All square, at that point, was a just state of affairs although there was little doubt, coming into the tie, that the emphasis was more on Silva than Harris to come away with a victory.

Everton’s mid-season slump had certainly placed added emphasis on the FA Cup in the Portuguese manager’s list of priorities in what is becoming an increasingly difficult debut season at Goodison Park.

It was, in that context, far from an ideal place for a fragile Everton to visit in this fourth round tie and, predictably, a far from ideal start for the Premier League side.

They were handed a warning on five minutes, when Cooper wasted a glorious opening with a misdirected header from Ferguson’s free-kick.

And only a dozen minutes had gone when the same dead ball specialist delivered a perfect centre from a right-wing free-kick, Shaun Hutchinson headed goalwards and Everton’s Lucas Digne was forced to clear off his line.

Everton, who failed with an early penalty appeal after Hutchinson appeared to grab Michael Keane, at least weathered that strong start, and the consistently hostile atmosphere.

By the time the persistent, driving rain saw water pooling across the New Den pitch, the tie had the look and feel of a throwback cup game from the seventies or eighties and Everton, to their credit, looked up for it.

The second half produced more of the same with Everton, and the increasingly influential Sigurdsson, beginning to assert control only to be denied by Millwall’s unquenchable spirit.

Millwall (4–2-3-1): Archer 4; Romeo 5, Hutchinson 7, Cooper 7, Wallace 6; Tunnicliffe 7, Williams 7; O’Brien 7 (Skalak 87), Leonard 7, Ferguson 9 (Morison 89); Gregory 8 (Pearce 90). Subs (not used): Martin, Meredith, Hanson, Alexander.

Everton (4-2-3-1): Pickford 6; Coleman 7, Keane 6, Mina 5 (Zouma 45, 6), Digne 6; Gueye 8, Gomes 5; Lookman 6 (Walcott 78, 6), Sigurdsson 7, Richarlison 6; Calvert-Lewin 5 (Tosun 64, 5). Subs (not used): Stekelenburg, Baines, Bernard, Davies.

Referee: M Oliver 5