Though we watch football for the thrills of a tense, back-and-forth contest, sometimes a leisurely afternoon at the park is a nice change of pace. And when at the end of the day you find your team a win away from Wembley and three wins away from lifting the FA Cup... well, that makes things even nicer. Everton notched perhaps their most comfortable victory of the season on Saturday, ensuring their place in the hat for the sixth round. Sure, there were concerns about the lack of a killer instinct, and if Blackpool had converted a late penalty the last couple of minutes could have been overly interesting, but all in all it was a good day for the Toffees.

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Every so often in football, everything just seems to come together perfectly on the day, almost as if success has a certain inevitability about it. That's the feeling I got today, and it was a very different feeling from the City game, which always seemed like it was going to end in a draw (to me anyway). But watching the match today, Everton looked a hell of a lot like the team that was consistently finishing in the European places a few years back. Maybe it was just the fact that Steven Pienaar was back and working the left side of the midfield like a maestro, but today the Toffees offered something they haven't truly offered in a long, long time.

Entertainment.

Oh yeah, and a 2-0 win over a member of the traditional "Big 4."

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Well, isn't that just typical Everton. Defeat the league leaders in a pulsating encounter, struggle to draw the league bottom-feeders in a dreary affair. Honestly, maybe we should have seen this coming. The last few years have been characterized by surprising success when we least expect it and bitter disappointment whenever we dare to get our hopes up. I suppose it wasn't all bad today; it is a point away from home and yet another late goal to steal points for the Toffees. Still, this is Wigan. They are in last place. There were questionable performances by the players and questionable tactics by the manager, and overall it can't be denied that this is a setback.

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I'm just going to take a second to admire how terrific that scoreline looks.

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All right. Let's do the match report...

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Now that's more like it!

There's nothing quite like Fulham at home to lift Everton out of the doldrums, and thankfully the two teams stuck to the script Friday night under the Goodison lights. The victory propelled Everton into the fifth round of the FA Cup, the draw for which will be held on Sunday evening. With Manchester City and either Manchester United or Liverpool already exiting the competition, hopes are high for a sustained cup run for the Blues. A celebratory match report is after the jump...

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Nervous. Tense. Frustrated. Negative.

Not the atmosphere you generally want to create at your home ground, but that's what happens when you win just three of your first eleven home fixtures. I think at this point we can say with confidence that the home form of the Toffees has gone from a nagging worry to a full-blown crisis. Consider these results: lost to QPR, drew with Villa, lost to Stoke, drew with Norwich, lost to Bolton, drew with Blackburn. That's 15 points dropped right there, and that's simply not good enough for a team that has prided itself on making Goodison Park a fortress in past seasons. If Everton had recouped just ten of those points, they would be tied for fifth place. That is astounding to me.

More on the match with Rovers after the jump...

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Another game another disappointing performance from Everton as they managed to fall 2-0. The big news to come out of the game however will be the loss of Sylvian Distin due to injury. The Frenchman limped off injured with nearly 30 minutes to play, and Evertonians must hope he is not out for long. Shane Duffy made his EPL debut, and the youngster did quite well and gives the squad a glimmer of hope for the future even once Distin returns.

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I could start this report off with any number of snarky comments about "the magic of the FA Cup" and the relative quality of this match, but you know what? I don't really feel like doing that today because I love the FA Cup. There, I said it. Sue me. I love watching the minnows go up against the top teams, I love watching the final at Wembley, heck I even love seeing pictures of crazed fans dressed up in lamb costumes (okay, maybe "love" is too strong a word for that last one). Sure, this game was far from a classic but Everton are through, unconvincing as it was. More stuff after the jump...

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