Cahill confirms Everton progress

Tim Cahill scored with five minutes left to take Everton FC into the UEFA Cup Round of 32 as Group A winners but FC Zenit St. Petersburg, who played the last hour with ten men, must wait.

Penalty miss
Everton were already well on top when Zenit's Nicolas Lombaerts was sent off for handball on the goalline. Mikel Arteta missed his penalty but constant home pressure told when Cahill finished off a goalmouth scramble. Zenit have completed their fixtures and are second but 1. FC Nürnberg's win against AZ Alkmaar leaves both teams within one point of the Russian side. For Zenit to go through, they need AZ to fail to win at home to Everton and Nürnberg to be denied victory at eliminated Larissa FC on 20 December.

Everton denied
Arteta went close on two minutes as his header beat goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev but was cleared off the line by Kim Dong Jin. Zenit looked like they would fall behind when Lombaerts was adjudged to have illegally blocked Tim Cahill's angled shot and was dismissed. However, Arteta put his 31st-minute spot-kick over the bar, and was later denied by Malafeev tipping over a long-range dipping effort.

Cahill heroics
Zenit lost Alejandro Dominguez to injury just before half-time, to be replaced by Olexandr Gorshkov but not long after the interval they nearly had a goal of their own as Pavel Pogrebnyak was denied by Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard and Konstantin Zyrianov shot over. Victor Anichebe, who came off the bench to score in Everton's last three UEFA Cup games, nearly did so again within four minutes of his arrival tonight but his effort was blocked. A goal did finally arrive, though, Cahill pouncing after Malafeev parried a Joleon Lescott shot to keep up Everton's perfect record in the group.