ALTHOUGH Everton's potential for self destruction has become dramatically more pronounced in recent weeks, they do still retain a fondness for the FA Cup. Defeat yesterday would have effectively seen the curtain fall on a season which has, hitherto, been characterised by rank inconsistency. But, they survived, comfortably so, against willing opponents who were never to recover from curious events inside the opening minute when they lost both a goal and a man. It was to get worse for the first division club they were to finish a tie which was bereft of malice with just nine men.
As dawn broke over a club which currently boasts more problems than it has viable solutions, Everton must have rued the efficiency of Goodison Park's under soil heating system. No ice, no frost, just a perfect playing surface.
Everton's casualty list is lengthy and, certainly, there would have been few dissenting scouse voices had this game fallen to the weather. Still, even when stripped of the likes of Andy Hinchcliffe, Joe Parkinson and Craig Short, Everton could boast seven full internationals. Rather more than Swindon could muster. Many of those who made up a surpisingly small attendance were still scrutinising their ticket stubs when the afternoon's first chapter was penned.
Precisely 52 seconds had elapsed when this seemingly nondescript tie crackled into life to take its place in the competition's rich history. At that moment, an Andrei Kanchelskis shot of immense power struck Swindon centre back Ian Culverhouse as he stood on his own goal line. As Kanchelskis was in the process of driving the rebound over the crossbar, his colleagues - to a man - broke the silence with a collective penalty appeal.
Fearing the worst, Culverhouse, naturally, pointed to his chest, adamant that he had prevented the ball from crossing the line by fair means not foul. Referee Neale Barry was having none of it. Handball was the verdict, deliberate handball. Culverhouse was dismissed - the swiftest ever FA Cup exit of its kind - and Kanchelskis duly thumped in the penalty.
"The game was over as a contest after just one minute," said Swindon manager Steve McMahon. "My player is adamant the ball hit him on the chest. The referee has said he will study a recycling of it. If it did strike his chest the referee ruined what would have been a really good game. I thought we had a genuine chance before that happened because if there was a right time to come here then this was it - but not with 10 men."
Dispirited and numerically disadvantaged, Swindon promptly placed all their eggs in the one basket, asking the former Liverpool enigma Mark Walters to rescue a cause which already seemed lost. Briefly Walters did threaten to restore the game's competitive edge but, sadly, shortly before he struck the crossbar with an audacious lob from great distance, he was guilty of an atrocious and costly piece of mis judgment.
Eighteen minutes in he tried to find his goalkeeper Fraser Digby with a straightforward back pass, delivered neither in haste nor while under pressure. It fell disastrously short, leaving Nick Barmby with the simple job of striking an unprotected target once he had rounded the goalkeeper.
It was never going to get better for Swindon and as they began, quite understandably to consider self preservation and damage limitation, Everton sensed that the tormenting of an already wounded animal may serve as a cure for all their recent ills.
As the Swindon rearguard began to open up Everton poured forward, gleefully and often. Four minutes into a second half which held all the fascination of a testimonial fixture, Everton ended any lingering doubts about the outcome when Duncan Ferguson rose majestically to meet Earl Barrett's cross with a fine header.
Referee Barry chose to apply a dash of salt to Swindon's open wounds with 15 minutes remaining when he sent off full back Gary Elkins for a second bookable offence.
