Salomon Rondon scored twice as Everton ended Boreham Wood’s surprising FA Cup 2021-22 run by beating the non-league team 2-0 to reach the quarterfinals. (More Football News)
Boreham Wood had not conceded a goal in the competition this season until Rondon finally created the breakthrough for Everton in the 57th minute after meeting a cross at the near post.
Everton striker Richarlison had a goal ruled out by VAR before Rondon added the second with a powerful header that goalkeeper Taye Ashby-Hammond could not prevent from crossing the line.
Everton will play away at Crystal Palace for a place in the semifinals. The Premier League club had paid for a special one-off kit for Boreham Wood to avoid a colour clash and also paid for the visitors' travel and overnight stay.
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It looked like that generosity would be extended to the pitch as well as Everton rarely threatened during a poor first half, watched for the first time by Everton's new director of football Kevin Thelwell.
Ukraine international Vitalii Mykolenko was made Everton captain for the night and there was a poignant pre-match show of solidarity with his homeland as players and officials held a banner reading “Imagine all the people, sharing all the world” — a line from John Lennon's “Imagine” which was played over the ground's public address system.
The poor first-half display persuaded manager Frank Lampard to make a halftime change and bring on Richarlison for Nathan Patterson to spark the attack. Rondon missed his first good chance to score when he met Jonjoe Kenny's cross but headed over.
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Jarrad Branthwaite then gifted the visitors a chance when he passed straight to Tyrone Marsh and was relieved to see the Boreham Wood forward drive a shot just over goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.
The growing frustration subsided when Rondon made amends for his earlier miss with a neatly-taken goal after nipping in front of center-back David Stephens to convert another Kenny cross.
Richarlison's close-range effort was then chalked off for handball after Adrian Clifton's attempted headed clearance hit the Brazil international. But Rondon ensured there was no late drama with a header which was adjudged to have crossed the line before Ashby-Hammond pulled it back.
The draw for the quarterfinals also handed Manchester City a trip to Southampton, while Chelsea will visit Middlesbrough. The last round-of-16 game between Nottingham Forest and Huddersfield will be played Monday, with the winner facing Liverpool.
