Second-half goals from Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku proved enough to fire Everton to a 2-0 victory over Bournemouth in the fifth round of the FA Cup this evening.
The visitors were good value for their win overall at the Vitality Stadium, but they had to ride their luck as Charlie Daniels missed the chance to fire his side ahead from the spot in a cagey all-Premier League tie.
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The Toffees boasted the better of the first-half openings, but their possession almost counted for nothing when James McCarthy stuck out an arm when defending a Daniels corner kick to see a penalty awarded.
Daniels, up until that point a peripheral figure in the contest down the left, stepped up himself to take the spot kick only for Joel Robles keep the effort out.
Three Bournemouth players followed up in an attempt to squeeze the ball home, but this time the side-netting came to the visitors' rescue as a lively Juan Iturbe knocked the ball wide.
It had been pretty much all Everton's way up until that point 37 minutes in, with Barkley seeing two attempts kept out in a rather routine manner by Adam Federici and Lukaku also coming close to finding a way through.
The Belgian forward, with just one goal in his last seven heading into this one, used his pace to burst beyond Tommy Elphick and through on goal, but he failed to get the better of Federici at his near post.
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Roberto Martinez's side, left battling on just one front this season following their League Cup semi-final exit last month, upped their game early on in the second half with a couple of half-chances.
Aaron Lennon blasted wide via a deflection following a smart chested pass from Lukaku, before Seamus Coleman headed over from the resulting set-piece delivery.
A season-high crowd at the Vitality Stadium watched on as Shaun MacDonald got away a rare shot up the other end of the field, although it was still largely the Toffees asking most of the questions in an attacking sense.
The Merseyside outfit finally made a way through just short of the hour mark, after Barkley's 20-yard drive took a deflection off former Everton man Dan Gosling and looped high into the net.
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Lukaku was only denied a quick-fire second by the offside flag but, just when the visitors looked to be asserting their dominance on the game a little more, Junior Stanislas came within inches of levelling up from a free kick up the other end.
A deflection once more went against the Cherries on that occasion as the ball sailed narrowly wide, yet there was a sense that momentum was beginning to fall their way heading into the final 20 minutes.
Joshua King's pass was crying out for Gosling to head home but, while the midfielder did meet the left-sided cross, it was right down the middle for Robles to once more comfortably collect.
Bournemouth introduced Glenn Murray and Matt Ritchie in an attempt to find a breakthrough, with the latter the latest to come close when blasting wide at the front post.
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That would prove to signal the end of the hosts' realistic hopes of reaching the quarter-final stage for just the second time in their 126-year existence, though, as Lukaku bundled home goal number 21 of the season 14 minutes from time.
Barkley should have doubled his side's advantage beforehand, seeing his shot with plenty of the goal to aim for deflect behind for a corner, which Bournemouth failed to properly clear.
Three goals in the final 10 minutes may have earned the Cherries a point in the corresponding league fixture between these two teams in November, though there was to be no way through on this occasion as Martinez's men progressed through to the last eight with relative ease.
Daniel Lewis
