Beto and Ndiaye see off Peterborough as Everton’s caretakers pick up slack

Twenty-one days after Everton set course for a new era called stability the search for their ninth permanent manager in nine years is under way. David Moyes, or whoever the new owners ultimately appoint, was handed a place in round four of the FA Cup plus a graphic demonstration of the task that lies ahead by a slender victory over League One opposition.

The Friedkin Group felt they had no option but to sack Sean Dyche after he informed them he had taken Everton as far as he could. Performances such as this suggest he may have had a point. Peterborough United rarely threatened to add an upset to Everton’s latest day of turmoil but, like many Premier League teams before them, they did a fair job of containing the royal blue threat. Beto, on paper the most expensive signing of the Dyche era, and Iliman Ndiaye, one of the few pluses, scored at the end of each half to edge Everton past Darren Ferguson’s side.

Leighton Baines, head coach of Everton Under-18s, was asked to take charge of the first team alongside club captain, Séamus Coleman, after Dyche’s sacking was announced just three hours before kick-off. The former Everton manager had taken training and picked the team earlier in the day.

“It’s been difficult,” admitted Baines. “Because a manager losing his job isn’t good and usually follows a difficult period, not just a difficult day. But within all of that, there has now got to be hope and optimism. Things are changing at the football club, with the new ownership and the new stadium. The manager has had to leave and that’s not what anyone wants. But a new manager coming in brings opportunity.”

The scheduling of the tie was less headline-grabbing than the sacking that preceded it. Nevertheless it served as another demonstration of how little consideration is given to supporters by broadcasters and authorities, in this case the BBC and Football Association. Everton’s shareholders association felt compelled to register its dismay at the Thursday night kick-off in a letter to the FA chief executive, Mark Bullingham. Peterborough’s 2,976 supporters, it wrote, “now have to make decisions about the viability of taking time off work, and youngsters out of school, to do a 360-mile round trip based around a weeknight 7.45pm kick-off”. A seven-hour round trip at that. Bullingham replied, in fairness, admitting the live fixture schedule had been “challenging” but increased prize money for all concerned. Everton having home games next Wednesday and Sunday was another factor, he wrote.

Quick Guide FA Cup: Fulham thrash Watford, Cardiff edge Sheffield United Show Fulham had four different scorers as they beat Watford 4-1 in the third round of the FA Cup at Craven Cottage. After a well-worked counter-attack allowed Rodrigo Muniz to net his first goal of 2025, Rocco Vata scored what will be considered a goal-of-the-competition contender with a thumping long-range effort to draw the sides level. Raúl Jímenez then continued his fine scoring record from the spot before Joachim Andersen and Timothy Castagne scored their first goals of the season to help Marco Silva topple his former club. Elsewhere, Cian Ashford struck the only goal as Cardiff turned the form book upside down at Bramall Lane by dumping out Sheffield United with a 1-0 win. Ashford marked his eighth senior start for the Championship relegation battlers with a first-half strike that settled the tie in front of a paltry crowd of just 6,126. Harrison Burrows struck a post for United late in the game, but it was too little, too late for Chris Wilder's much-changed side. PA Media Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.

The contest itself was a turn-off. Sir Alex Ferguson was present to see if his son’s side could capitalise on the upheaval at Goodison. Peterborough had their moments in the first half. Everton needed a timely intervention from Vitalii Mykolenko to prevent Ricky-Jade Jones applying a finishing touch to a flowing counterattack. The resulting corner from Chris Conn-Clarke sailed through the Everton six-yard box to Cian Hayes, whose shot beat the stand-in goalkeeper João Virgínia but not Jarrad Branthwaite. Hayes’s effort may have been going wide without the defender’s block.

“Two big moments, two big chances” Ferguson reflected. “I said to the players before the game that the moment you feel comfortable is the worry. It was our best moment in the game when they scored. You could just feel the atmosphere was about to turn but the performance I was pleased with.”

Everton controlled proceedings, as they should, but their lack of creativity and cutting edge was evident again. Baines handed Harrison Armstrong his second start in Everton colours and the 17-year-old midfielder vindicated the selection with an encouraging display. He enlivened a flat contest with a defence-splitting pass that released Beto in behind Emmanuel Fernandez. Beto, linked with a return to Italy this month, rounded Peterborough’s goalkeeper, Nicholas Bilokapic, before scoring into an empty net.

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View image in fullscreen Everton’s caretaker managers, Leighton Baines and Séamus Coleman, applaud supporters at kick-off. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images

Ashley Young’s introduction with 17 minutes remaining raised the prospect of Goodison witnessing the dad v lad confrontation that the FA Cup draw had conjured. The 39-year-old’s son, Tyler, was on the Peterborough substitutes’ bench but despite Ferguson ringing the changes in the search for an equaliser the reunion did not materialise. Ashley said it would have been “the pinnacle” of his career to play against his son. The Peterborough manager was unrepentant. “One of their players had a bit of a pop at me which is bang out of order,” revealed Ferguson. “I’ve got to do what is best for my team. At 1-0, I’ve got to try to get a result and I had to get a forward on.”

Everton’s troubled day took another worrying turn when substitute Armando Broja, who has had a luckless time with injuries this season, was carried off on a stretcher after landing awkwardly following a challenge from Fernandez. “It looked bad but he hasn’t gone to hospital,” said Baines. “We don’t know the extent of it yet.”

The hosts were awarded a stoppage-time penalty when Jadel Katongo was penalised for holding Branthwaite at a corner. Ndiaye rolled home a confident spot-kick to extinguish Peterborough’s hopes of salvaging extra time.

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