Shrewsbury Town...2 Everton...1Forty minutes or so after the whistle, Nigel Jemson took a seat in the main stand, Wayne Rooney's shirt in his hand and a bottle of champagne at his feet, and reflected on what he and his Shrewsbury team-mates had just achieved.
With a nine-week old baby boy in bed at home, he would not be watching Match of the Day that night, and no, he would not be going out on the town with the lads. Instead, he planned to put his feet up and enjoy a glass of wine at home with his wife Mandy.
The 33-year-old striker, now at his 12th club and the scorer of Nottingham Forest's winner in the 1990 League Cup final, has had his moments before, though once the enormity of this victory had fully registered - arguably the biggest FA Cup upset since non-league Sutton eliminated Coventry in 1989 - it is hard to imagine the Jemsons not sneaking a look at the re-run yesterday.
Shrewsbury, seventh from bottom of the Third Division and a club who preserved their league status only with a win at Exeter on the last day of the 1999-2000 season, defeated Everton, fifth in the Premiership, and they did it with plenty to spare.
"Ian Woan put me in for the winner," Jemson said. "I'd been telling him all day to look for me at the near post and he did it in the first half but Richard Wright made a magnificent save. I got my head to this one, too, and was flat on my back when I saw Wright get a hand to it, but the ball hit the back of the net."
It justified manager Kevin Ratcliffe's faith in his players, who came into the game with a divisional worst of 47 league goals conceded and on the back of a 5-1 thumping at Rushden on New Year's Day.
"Sometimes you need a bit of luck but I don't think we did today," the former Everton captain said. "We deserved it. The last thing I said was 'Don't show them any respect. Get out there and get at them'.
"They followed this to the letter and Shrewsbury might have been two up before they went ahead, Wright pulling off that save from Jemson in the 12th minute and later turning Luke Rodgers' shot against the outside of a post.
Everton, without the injured Kevin Campbell and Joseph Yobo, had centre-backs filling all four positions in defence and Peter Clarke out of his depth at right-back. They played too deep and with anaemic performances from Thomas Gravesen and Scott Gemmill in midfield, gave Shrewsbury the space to dominate.
Tomasz Radzinski, as is his way, had missed a couple of chances before Jemson struck his first with a free-kick from the edge of the area, lifting the ball over a slipshod wall and into the top corner.
"I scored one against Barrow in the last round and though I missed badly at Rushden I was able to bend this one in. It was lovely to see it hit the back of the net."
Niclas Alexandersson got Everton back into it with a low shot but Shrewsbury soon had a surefire penalty turned down after Clarke felled the abrasive Rodgers.
Alexandersson fired across the face of goal from a tight angle before Li Tie, who replaced Gemmill, had a chance to secure an undeserved replay but scuffed from 12 yards. Then, with a minute to go and Ratcliffe fretting, David Unsworth conceded a free-kick and Woan's cross found Jemson, who had slipped his marker, to secure a famous victory.
"It's lovely to score twice against one of the best teams in the Premiership," Jemson added. "We've got some great kids here and if they carry on listening to what they are told, we'll have a few more occasions like this."
SHREWSBURY TOWN: Dunbavin, Moss, Smith, Wilding, Artell, Lowe (Aiston 85), Atkins, Jamie Tolley, Woan, Rodgers (Jagielka 81), Jemson (Drysdale 90). Subs Not Used: Kendall, Redmile. Booked: Lowe. Goals: Jemson 38, 89.
EVERTON: Wright, Clarke, Stubbs, Weir, Unsworth (McLeod 90), Carsley, Gemmill (Tie Li 76), Gravesen (Alexandersson 45), Naysmith, Radzinski, Rooney. Subs Not Used: Pembridge, Baardsen. Booked: Gravesen, Stubbs, Rooney. Goals: Alexandersson 60.
Referee: S Dunn (Avon)
