Everton 3-1 Sheffield United

It is hard to remember a Carling Cup second round victory greeted with as much relief as the 3-1 triumph over third-tier side Sheffield United last night.

Yet that was the overriding feeling after goals from Richard Cresswell (OG), Victor Anichebe (no, really) and Mikel Arteta saw us come back from a goal down to progress to the next round.

After Saturday's shock defeat to QPR it was vital that we responded with a cup victory and a strong team was named for the clash, which was played out in front of just 17,173 spectators. That total was the lowest for a competitive match at Goodison for over 12 years - and a clear sign of unrest amongst Evertonians following a frustrating Summer.

Jan Mucha was granted his third competitive start in Everton colours whilst John Heitinga and Tony Hibbert replaced Sylvain Distin and Phil Neville in the other changes to the back five from the loss to QPR.

To fans' frustration, the midfield consisted of five players, but it was an attacking and creative one. Marouane Fellaini and Jack Rodwell sat a little deeper with the exciting trio of Mikel Arteta, Leon Osman and Ross Barkley charged with creating opportunities for lone striker Victor Anichebe.

Tim Howard, Phil Neville, Louis Saha and Sylvain Distin started on the bench alongside a trio of youngsters; Apostolos Vellios, James Wallace and Jose Baxter.

Everton enjoyed much the better of the opening exchanges but fell behind on 28 minutes when Richard Cresswell, like Tommy Smith had done for QPR, finished smartly after poor defending by Everton.

Cresswell found himself on the scoresheet once again just minutes later, but unfortunately for him he had registered an own goal. Jack Rodwell's effort from a tight angle was parried by Steve Simonsen onto the despairing Cresswell, who could only watch as the ball crossed the line and allowed Evertonians to breath a sigh of relief.

Everton assumed their early dominance and registered two quick-fire goals that ultimately put the game beyond doubt. Victor Anichebe applied a neat flick to Ross Barkley's cross-cum-shot to give Everton the lead and five minutes later Mikel Arteta classily swept home from the edge of the area after Barkley had been tackled.

The tempo slowed in the second period with the home side happy to sit on the two-goal cushion. Ross Barkley went closest to widening the lead with a long-range strike well saved by Simonsen before he was withdrawn to a standing ovation.

It ended 3-1 and we are comfortably though to Saturday's third round draw. Plenty of positives to take from the night - not least the first ninety minutes played by Marouane Fellaini since February.

Barkley (again) showed us a glimpse of what could be a very bright future, Tony Hibbert put in an impressive performance on his 250th Everton start and Mikel Arteta gave us hope that he can return to his scintillating best.

StickyToffee Player Ratings: Mucha 6, Hibbert 8, Jagielka 6, Heitinga 6, Baines 6, Rodwell 6, Fellaini 6, Arteta 7, Osman 6, Barkley 7, Anichebe 6.

Subs: Saha 5, Baxter 4, Neville 4.