Relieved Silva wants better concentration from Everton after edging past Lincoln

A relieved Marco Silva says his players need to maintain their focus and concentration after Everton edged past Lincoln City to reach the FA Cup fourth round.

The Toffees made a flying start at Goodison Park and looked in total control with goals from Ademola Lookman and Bernard inside the opening 15 minutes

However, more sloppy defending from a set piece allowed Michael Bostwick to bring League Two Lincoln back into the game.

Everton managed to hold and secure the win but it was far from a convincing performance as Lincoln more than held their own.

It was, however, a victory; the club’s first in the FA Cup since March 2016 and just their second in nine games in all competitions.

Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images

Speaking after the game Silva was relieved to make it through but expressed his frustration at his side’s failure to maintain a grip on the game.

”First, we achieved the main thing which was to play the next round in the competition.

”It looks in some moments that we didn’t like to have a quiet afternoon. But for 20 minutes we did well, we started with intensity, with some good moments, the second goal was a good finish.

”After that we lost focus completely and gave them hope and is something that has happened with our team during the last few games and is something we have to stop as quick as we can.”

”The game is always open until we score the third goal, we didn’t score the third goal but we achieved the main thing to be in the next round.”

The Toffees boss made a double substitution at half time, replacing Tom Davies and Dominic Calvert-Lewin for Andre Gomes and Cenk Tosun.

When asked for the reasons behind that double change, Silva added:

”In that moment, I felt we needed a player like Andre.

”We completely controlled the game with the ball and were creating problems for them but when they score we started to have some doubts in our build-up and we needed Andre in that moment.

”About the situation with Dominic, it was the moment for us to give Cenk the chance to show his quality.”

A healthy crowd of 37,900 packed into Goodison Park for the game, an impressive turnout for the first week of January after such hectic schedule over Christmas.

That crowd was boosted by 5,500 visiting supporters from Lincoln who certainly made their voices heard throughout the match.

Silva was keen to thank the supporters after the game, with the high turnout a reflection of the importance the fans are placing on the FA Cup as the trophy drought ticks over into a 24^th year.

”Some words for our fans also. When you play against Lincoln at home, and with big respect for our opponent, we nearly sold out the stadium and that shows us how important the competition is.

”We knew that before the match and they proved and show to us again that is important and the enthusiasm they have when we play in this competition. Congratulations to them.”