For Fabio Capello, the England manager, it must have seemed a very long way to come for very little. The game was tired and tame, the players who were of interest were largely uninspired and the occasion was muted. The big team won, the smaller team lost and the first-team coach who said that he cared little for the tournament is now on his way to Wembley, with barely a smile.

Fortunately, amid so much that was uninspiring, there was an absolute gem of a winning goal, scored by an Englishman and certain to catch Capello’s eye, much like torchlight in a graveyard. It came from Joe Cole, who is sure to be named in Capello’s first squad on February 2, and perhaps is the answer to his problems if Michael Owen fails to regain his form and the England manager is forced to play Wayne Rooney as a striker, with a supporting midfield player behind.

Cole has long coveted a more central, attacking role and, although he did not get it in a depleted Chelsea team here — surprisingly, Avram Grant, their first-team coach, played Shaun Wright-Phillips through the middle and kept Cole wide on the right — he showed what he can do in front of goal with the 68th-minute intervention that decided the game and, with it, the tie, given Chelsea’s 2-1 advantage from the first leg.

Capello has taken to leaving games early, as Sven-Göran Eriksson did when he was the England head coach, but it was to be hoped that he was still in his seat when Cole provided the only moment worth watching on a disappointing night, making what started as nothing more than a hopeful long pass from Florent Malouda appear more like a flash of genius with a finish that deserved a place at Wembley, even if not much else did.

Cole outran Joleon Lescott, took the ball down with one touch, and then finished with a flourish, a right-foot shot that beat Tim Howard at his near post, more through speed and surprise than studied placement. And that was all it took, really. On a night that promised so much for Everton, David Moyes’s team disappointed like at no other time this season, failing to show the cutting edge that could have put Chelsea under pressure, given that a 1-0 home win would have made the Merseyside team Wembley bound for the first time since 1995.

It was never likely to happen on this showing. Two saves by Petr Cech in the space of a minute midway through the second half were the only time that Chelsea looked stretched, despite a makeshift line-up that included Wright-Phillips and Steve Sidwell as a central midfield pairing, an accident waiting to happen against a team with more to offer. In the end, though, Chelsea won at a canter and, while Grant claims that the Carling Cup is way down his list of priorities, he may get caught up in the atmosphere once he is at Wembley; Tottenham Hotspur’s hunger for a trophy and a desire for Chelsea not to go the same way as Arsenal should see to that.

Indeed, it was the memory of Tuesday night’s show at White Hart Lane that made this encounter seem such a damp squib. Tottenham showed how to get on the front foot on such an occasion, but Moyes simply does not have the same quality at his disposal.

Both clubs have been affected by the exodus to the African Cup of Nations, but, while Everton are without Yakubu Ayegbeni, their record £11.25 million signing, who is on duty with Nigeria, Chelsea replaced Didier Drogba, the Ivory Coast striker, by lavishing £15 million on Nicolas Anelka. That was the difference.

Emotions were high at Goodison Park, certainly, with the club enjoying their most significant night of domestic cup football in more than a decade, but their play could not keep step with the expectation. Everton have spent too long playing safe against teams with the might of Chelsea to go hell for leather now, and Moyes’s game plan of using Andrew Johnson as a lone striker, with Tim Cahill withdrawn in support, resembled a sling-shot against Chelsea’s armour-plated defence.

In the first half, neither team conjured a clear opportunity, trading instead in the lesser currency of half-chances and hope until Anelka hit the bar in the first attack of the second half. Chelsea looked increasingly dangerous on the break and, when Cole broke the stalemate, few were surprised. It could have been different had the much-needed galvanising goal for the home team arrived first, and there were two close shaves, in the 57th minute when a short corner by Mikel Arteta was met by Phil Neville, at last drawing a save worthy of the name from Cech, and then when Leon Osman took Cech by surprise, his shot forcing an ungainly clearance off the line with his legs.

At those moments, Goodison Park at last reached the decibel levels that had been promised, yet by the end, all was quiet. Everton did not turn up for the party and Chelsea have enjoyed too many bigger bashes of late to put out the flags for the Carling Cup.

Everton (4-4-1-1): T Howard – P Neville, P Jagielka, J Lescott, N Valente – M Arteta, M Fernandes (sub: J Vaughan, 78min), L Carsley (sub: V Anichebe, 70), L Osman – T Cahill – A Johnson. Substitutes not used: A Hibbert, A Stubbs, S Wessels. Booked: Carsley, Fernandes, Valente, Neville.

Chelsea (4-1-4-1): P Cech – J Belletti, Alex, R Carvalho, W Bridge – C Makelele – J Cole (sub: C Pizarro, 82), S Wright-Phillips, S Sidwell, F Malouda (sub: A Cole, 90) – N Anelka (sub: T Ben Haim, 90). Substitutes not used: P Ferreira, C Cudicini. Booked: Makelele, Belletti.

Referee: S Bennett.

The final:

Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea
Wembley, February 24, 3pm

Mirror image

Remarkably, in their first 28 games in charge of Chelsea in all competitions (including last night’s cup-tie), José Mourinho and Avram Grant share identical records:

Played 28 Won 21 Lost 2 Drawn 5

Source: Opta

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