and into the draw for the third round of the Carling Cup.
David Moyes made seven changes to the team that drew with Wigan at the
weekend, the most surprising being the inclusion of Mark Hughes at
centre back.
The Everton manager also gave starts to Richard Wright, Nuno Valente,
Simon Davies, Andy van der Meyde, James Beattie and Victor Anichebe.
And it was Anichebe that stole the show as he showed great strength and
composure on the ball, especially when up against some robust challenges
from the Peterborough defenders.
Richard Wright, on the other hand, just seems to be getting more and
more erratic with every game he plays.
He twice put the defence in trouble in 10 first half minutes as he came
rushing out of his goal to punch away a cross that he was never going to
reach and then threw a dreadful ball to Phil Neville that was
intercepted by Justin Richards.
The Peterborough midfielder hit a shot past Wright but Joleon Lescott
had read the situation and cleared the ball from inside the six-yard
box.
Everton had plenty of possession in the opening exchanges but just
couldn't seem to create any decent chances for the front two.
But the Blues did manage to open the scoring after 24 minutes when Phil
Neville picked up a quickly taken free kick and whipped a wicked cross
into the Peterborough area.
James Beattie was on the back post and tried to head the ball back
across goal to Anichebe, but it hit the unfortunate Jude Stirling on the
back of head and rolled past Mark Tyler in the Peterborough goal.
After going a goal up, most thought that the Blues would find some
fluency and put the game out of sight, but the rout never materialised.
For all their possession, Everton still had no real cohesion about them,
a product of the many changes, and Peterbrough pushed for an equaliser.
They may have got it from the spot but the referee waved away the home
side's appeals after Liam Davis tripped over Hughes in the area.
Everton then nearly doubled their lead some great work from Anichebe saw
him tee up Lee Carsley in the area but the Irishman's volley was tipped
around the post by Tyler.
The pattern of play continued into the second half but Peterborough
finally managed to force an equaliser on 56 minutes.
Trevor Benjamin rose above Lescott to power a header goalwards from a
corner.
Despite Simon Davies' acrobatic goal line clearence, the goal was
rightly given as replays showed that the ball was a good foot over the
line.
Davies was then in action at the other end as he hammered a shot towards
the Peterborough goal, only to see it pushed wide by Tyler.
On 63 minutes Cahill replaced the ineffective van der Meyde and Arteta
came on for Naysmith.
It's clear that Moyes had picked his bench with this scenario in mind
and the Blues looked a lot more threatening after the substitutions.
But the game wasn't won until the 87th minute and came after more good
work from Anichebe.
The young striker picked the ball up in the Peterborough area and held
off the attentions of the Posh defence to turn and hit a snap shot
goalwards.
Tyler parried the shot but wasn't quick enough to collect it and Cahill
needed that split second to slide the ball in from close range.
So, it was job done and you can call it a professional performance or
whatever but it's clear that squad rotation, though necessary, really
does upset the rhythm of the side.
But we're in the draw for the next round and that's what counts.