Could Tamworth cause a shock at Goodison Park?

Non-league Tamworth will travel to Premier League Everton in the FA Cup third round hoping to pull off a major shock on Saturday.

Most of the clubs players are semi-professional but the non-leaguers will be hoping to catch Everton on a bad day.

Romance

This is the sort of story that the FA Cup can inspire. A David vs. Goliath tie where the underdogs have nothing to lose and the big boys have nothing to gain. The sort of tie that has made the FA Cup one of the most famous cup competitions in the world.

Tamworth are the sort of club that could just produce a shock result in the third round. This tie is the classic banana skin for the Toffee’s.

History

Tamworth made it to the third round of the competition in 2006 but were knocked out by Stoke on penalties. The Lambs also made it to the same stage a year later, this time by knocked out by Norwich.

Everton have been knocked out of the competition by lower league opposition twice in recent years, by Shrewsbury in 2003 and by Oldham in 2008. The Toffee’s were also knocked out of the competition by Championship Reading at the fifth round stage last season.

Struggling

There is definitely some encouragement to be taken by the Tamworth players from those results. Goodison Park has not been the fortress it used to be in previous years and Everton are struggling to win games.

Wednesday’s 2-1 home defeat to Bolton was another poor showing on their home turf. Everton’s biggest problem has been finding the net. The Toffee’s even had to rely on goalkeeper Tim Howard to score against Bolton.

The way the Everton attack are playing he may well find himself up front after his freak goal against the Trotters. Everton’s main striker Louis Saha has hit the target just once this season and looks set to leave at the end of the season when his contract expires.

Injuries

Everton suddenly have a huge injury list which includes Phil Jagielka, Leon Osman, Tim Cahill and Jack Rodwell. Everton boss David Moyes may field some youngsters against the non-leaguers. The Scot doesn’t have a massive squad and with so many senior players out injured he may have no other choice.

The likes of Conor McAleny, Magaye Gueye and Apostolos Vellios will be hoping to make an appearance for the Blues in a game they simply cannot afford to slip up in.

Form

The side from Staffordshire are currently 14th in the Blue Square Premier table after picking up just one point from the last four league games, since winning 2-1 at Gateshead in the second round. Everton’s form has been patchy this season.

The Toffee’s were on a four match unbeaten run before the Bolton defeat and the fans will be expecting to bounce back with a comfortable victory against the minnows.

Possible

Even as a Everton fan I believe that Tamworth have a chance of causing an upset at Goodison tomorrow afternoon. On paper whatever team that David Moyes fields should be strong enough to beat the Blue Square Premier side.

However the history of the FA Cup suggests that anything is possible. If Tamworth perform to the best of their ability and get a few lucky breaks then maybe they could cause the shock of the round, after all this is the sort tie that dreams and the FA Cup are made of.

Can Tamworth cause a shock at Goodison Park?