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VAR can always be counted on to distract from the football. This was no advert for the FA Cup, and certainly not for the fixture’s bizarre scheduling, and neither Crystal Palace nor Everton will welcome going again at Goodison Park. But those still paying attention had a flashpoint to chew on in the 79th minute when Dominic Calvert-Lewin was, at some length, sent off for a tackle on Nathaniel Clyne that appeared more misjudged than outright dangerous. Even then James Garner missed a fine chance for the visitors to emerge triumphant, but they left feeling doubly bruised after Dwight McNeil was carried off on a stretcher late on.If the authorities were serious about this competition they would not have sanctioned staging the opening third-round tie on a Thursday night, only 48 hours after the Premier League’s sprawling festive schedule had finished. A rainswept night in south London hardly added positive vibes but the sight of 4,000 Everton fans packing almost half of the Arthur Waite stand, in rude voice as the teams emerged, was a reminder nobody has cooked up a cure for cup fever just yet. Many of those who travelled from the north-west will have moved heaven and earth to make a nine-hour return journey by road; they deserve considerably greater respect from the schedulers. Continue reading...