Everton Win !!!
A Tim Cahill goal in extra-time has given Everton a Carling Cup win at Luton Town.
One hundred minutes of football failed to provide a breakthrough before Cahill snatched the winning goal from close-range.
The first-half at Kenilworth Road was dreadful – totally bereft of any imaginative or penetrative football from either side.
Neither goalkeeper was seriously threatened and the sterility of Everton’s opening period display was summed up by the fact that it was stoppage time before they forced a corner.
The only efforts on goal were from distance. David Bell twice tried his luck for the home side and twice he was off target, whilst Leon Osman had the only meaningful attempts for the visitors.
He shot straight at the keeper after a decent passing move on the right and he hooked a volley from outside the box that was always drifting wide.
The contrast at the start of the second period couldn’t have been more stark!
Everton poured forward with real menace and had Luton reeling.
Osman came close shortly after the restart when he struck a fierce drive from 20 yards that the home keeper Dean Brill had to touch over the crossbar and Nuno Valente, still chasing his first ever goal for the club, drilled an effort just too high.
Luton were finally being forced onto the back-foot and next up it was Alan Stubbs, whose ferocious direct free-kick just before the hour mark had Brill beaten all ends up but flashed inches wide of the post.
Everton were at last punching their weight but although the League One side were on the ropes they refused to go down.
Osman’s deflected shot needed a smart block with his legs by Brill, leading scorer Joleon Lescott created his own space inside the box before pulling the ball wide and then Phil Jagielka had a header hacked off the goal-line.
Phil Neville tested Brill and so did Jagielka with a header from a corner.
David Moyes made the first of his changes when he withdrew James McFadden in favour of James Vaughan, who was making his first appearance of the campaign. The teenage centre-forward almost made it a fairytale return to first-team duty when he glanced a Jagielka centre wide.
Luton were hanging on and even crafted an opening of their own when the dangerous Bell ran at Valente on the left of the box before crashing a shot past Wessells but into the crowd.
At the other end, Osman continued to look the most likely for Everton and after skipping past a couple of challenges he stung the fingers of Brill with another well-struck effort. 
But to their credit The Hatters defended resolutely and took the tie into extra-time.
It was in the 101st minute that the breakthrough finally arrived. Substitute Thomas Gravesen swung a corner into the box, Stubbs helped the ball on and Tim Cahill, with uncanny timing yet again, was in the right place at the far post to force it past the keeper.
Kevin Blackwell’s troops still didn’t throw in the towel though and Matthew Spring thought he’d leveled in the 112th minute when his goal bound shot wrong-footed Wessells but was cleared away by Lescott.
Then with just three minutes to go, Wessells made a fine flying save to deny Calvin Andrew.
