Everton V Sunderland: Rating the Toffees Players in FA Cup Quarterfinal

With a semi-final appearance at Wembley on offer for the victors, Everton and Sunderland battled to a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park on Saturday.

In an entertaining game that Sunderland started the better, Everton had to come from a goal down to earn a replay at the Stadium of Light on 27 April.

Everton will feel they could have won as they had more chances than their opposition, and it took two great saves at the end of the game to keep the scoreline even.

The game saw Tim Cahill look like his old-self, Sylvain Distin and John Heitinga stake their claim as Evertons best central defenders and Royston Drenthe continue to confuse Everton fans everywhere with his sublime and ridiculous performance.

The semi-final draw will pit the winner of the replay against Liverpool so David Moyes has all the motivation he needs to see his side get a result next month.

GK: Tim Howard: 6.5

The American shot-stopper didn't have much to do against Sunderland and was not at fault for their goal.

Sunderland only managed two shots on target so Howard had a quiet afternoon.

He put the Blues under a little pressure at the end of the first half with a poor clearance that led to a Sunderland attack and a nervous few minutes before the break.

Apart from that though, there wasn't much of note for Howard today.

LB: Leighton Baines: 7.0

Yet another solid game from Everton's best player.

Great cross for the Everton goal, was busy all afternoon.

Had to have a couple of words with Royston Drenthe for some of the midfielders defensive frailties but the two seemed to link up well.

As good attacking as he was defending but conceded the free-kick that led to Sunderland's goal.

CB: John Heitinga: 7.5

John Heitinga's fine run of form continues with yet another assured performance at the heart of the Everton defense.

Poised and strong at the back and very nearly produced the winning goal in the dying seconds with a great header that was wonderfully saved by Sunderland keeper Simon Mignolet.

Both Heitinga and Sylvain Distin played brilliantly and are forming a partnership that could see Phil Jagielka remain on the sidelines for a few more weeks.

CB: Sylvain Distin: 8.0

Like his centre-back partner John Heitinga, Slyvain Distin had a great game versus Sunderland.

Cool and quick in defense, Distin had Sunderland striker Frazier Campbell in his back pocket all game.

Distin's pace always seems to surprise opposing players and he demonstrated his quickness time and again.

Looked assured in possession and battled it out with Tim Cahill for the man of the match award but just lost out thanks to Cahill's goal.

RB: Phil Neville: 6.5

Booked very early on but played well against Sunderland striker Nicklas Bendtner in what turned out to be a great tussle throughout the match.

Kept Wayne Bridge quiet too and showed some good leadership as one of the many players that had a chat with Drenthe during the first half.

LM: Royston Drenthe: 6.5

The little Dutch conundrum was hot, cold and everything in between in this game.

Should have been awarded a penalty early on after some great work against the Sunderland defense but when he didn't get a few decisions from referee Andre Marriner, his performance dropped.

Spoken to by coaches and players repeatedly for falling asleep when defending, Drenthe proved his quality with s stunning free-kick that struck the bar just before the break.

I still can't work Royston Drenthe out.

While he does offer something different going forward, he's a defensive liability but if he gets that early decision, you know he's going to put a side like Sunderland to the sword.

CM: Leon Osman: 6.0

Absent for large portions of the game, Leon Osman never really got going in this one.

Had a bright start with a good chance early on which he headed over, but other than that he did very little.

Possibly could have been out quicker for Phil Bardsley's opener but the whole Everton side seemed asleep for that one.

Didn't get on the ball as much as he'd have liked and was over-shadow by Fellaini's good game alongside him.

CM: Marouane Fellaini: 7.0

Began the game slowly giving the ball away a few times in the opening half, Marouane Fellaini really got going as the game wore on.

As comfortable as ever on the ball, Fellaini lacks pace going forward but is a constant thorn in the oppositions side when defending.

He won the ball in the middle of the park countless times and his distribution got better in the second half, but he still needs to do more when attacking.

Late in the game, he should have been used more as Everton took to long-ball tactics in search of a winner but Sunderland held firm.

RM: Seamus Coleman: 6.0

Seamus Coleman had a couple of good runs at the Sunderland defense but got a bit greedy when he found good crossing positions.

He is always a threat with the ball at his feet and his St. Patrick's Day duel with Sunderland's Northern Irish midfielder James McClean was good to watch.

Does need to work on his crossing, but he put a great ball in early on for Osman's missed header.

AM: Tim Cahill: 8.5

Finally, the Tim Cahill we are used to.

The Australian midfielder found those positions in the box that have escaped him for over a year as he showed his quality in the air with a good headed goal.

Debate will ensue as to how much Cahill actually knew about his goal, but it looked like he made a good adjustment to steer Nikica Jelavic's header into the back of the net.

Linked up well with Jelavic a few times giving hope to Everton fans everywhere that we can expect more man of the match performances from Cahill in the not too distant future.

He was busy throughout, won headers all over the park including some great defensive work too.

Welcome back, Tim.

ST: Nikica Jelavic: 7.0

Nikica Jelavic continued to build on his good start for Everton with another solid performance against Sunderland.

Assisted Tim Cahill's equaliser, even if the Croatian's header was going well wide of the target, and linked up well with the Australian throughout.

He looks like a good acquisition for Everton as he holds the ball up well and isn't bad in the air.

Had a chance at the death which was saved well by Mignolet, but considering Jelavic has made only a handful of appearances for Everton, he looks like he'll be a great player for the Blues.

Subs: 5.5

Eye-brows were raised when David Moyes brought Magaye Gueye off the bench for Royston Drenthe and the youngster never really got going.

He had about 20 minutes to impress and impress he did not.

Denis Stracqualursi came on as a last throw of the dice for Everton but didn't have enough time to do anything of note.