Everton 1-1 Fulham (6-7 on pens): Cottagers beat Toffees in shootout

Fulham captain Tosin Adarabioyo scored the winning penalty in the shoot-out against Everton which put the club into their first Carabao Cup semi-final.

The Toffees’ hero from their second-round comeback win at Doncaster, Beto came off the bench to score a late equaliser after Michael Keane’s own goal but in sudden death in the spot-kicks, Idrissa Gana Gueye hit the post and Adarabioyo scored to send the Cottagers through 7-6.

It was the fourth time in the last six seasons Everton had exited the competition on penalties and brought to end a four-match winning run as their hopes of a first semi-final appearance in seven years were dashed.

England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford’s save from Bobby De Cordova-Reid in front of the Gwladys Street gave Amadou Onana the chance to win it with their fifth and final penalty in regulation but the Belgium international, who had been relatively ineffective all game, chose placement over power and placed the ball too close to Bernd Leno.

Fulham’s victory also saw them become the first club to win at Goodison Park three times in a calendar year, while their former Toffees boss Marco Silva, who reached the FA Cup quarter-finals last season, returned to haunt his old club once again.

However, in truth there was no masterplan involved in the victory as the 41st-minute lead they took came without them even having a shot on target – they had to wait until midway through the second half for that solitary effort – courtesy of Keane.

Everton were not much better, with just two on target themselves but one of those was crucially their £26million summer signing’s 82nd-minute equaliser, only his third goal for the club.

It may have been a quarter-final but it had all the appearances of a game neither side really wanted at an already busy time, with Sean Dyche’s side heading to Tottenham and Fulham hosting Burnley at the weekend.

Everton’s two changes by no means weakened them, with centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite, albeit slotting on the left of defence, and midfielder Gueye both returning from suspension.

However, the limitations of playing a right-footed centre-back on the left were abundantly clear when Branthwaite was released by Dwight McNeil but ballooned his cross over the danger area.

McNeil should have hit the target with his angled shot, while Branthwaite’s stumbling header proved too easy for Leno and, as often has been the case at home this season, Everton paid for it.

Antonee Robinson’s overlap down the left saw him collect a pass from Willian, who had just drilled a low free-kick under the wall and wide, and beat Nathan Patterson with his cross but, unfortunately for Everton, not Keane who deflected it past Pickford.

Early in the second half, Jack Harrison drove narrowly wide before Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who with James Garner in the advanced midfield role but not quite advanced enough had cut an isolated figure, was replaced by Beto whose physicality presented more of a challenge.

Fulham waited 68 minutes for their first shot on target and then Pickford denied former Toffees winger Alex Iwobi before Beto nodded in from close range from Garner’s scuffed shot.

Fellow substitute Arnaut Danjuma volleyed wide in added time and, after Patterson and Keane produced vital blocks, penalties ensued.