Autumn. Combination of crisp air and bright sunshine. Irresistible, and living by the sea makes it so much better and cleaner.

There are sharper humour combinations too, such as relishing the look on the faces of various ex-Gregg putzs in your local. Too much, man, too much. It’s bound to get even funnier despite one less clutz of gunsels hanging on for their five minutes of fame. Of course Paul was always going to do them in, but there’s no telling some people. So you leave them to stew in their own poison. Gawd knows, they had it coming.

But such suckers aren’t alone. After all, far too many fans everywhere whine about “investment” without having the slightest idea how much is enough, what it REALLY means or what it does to the game. Then the very same people whinge about the direction taken by the sport. You’d weep if you weren’t too busy laughing. In other words, empty-headed crackpots who have gone with the right-wing swing because they haven’t got a mind of their own. And even if they did it would be mortgaged to the Rupert Murdoch Building Society. Fantasy dicks to a man, they would have given money to the South Sea Bubble with their eyes shut, or in a later generation would have found themselves hurtling earthwards from a Wall Street fortieth floor. They just never learn the lessons of history.

Meanwhile, of much more substance than said loons, Luton promised a stern test in the Mickey Mouse Cup. The previous Saturday they defeated Leeds 5-1 (you remember Leeds, the club who “lived the dream” so much they are next to bottom of the Championship and have Ken Bates to look forward to) and had put a decent run together. You wondered what lay in store.

As it turned out our beloved Blues played their best stuff in years. Even allowing for the comparative level of our opponents this was a mightily impressive performance. Poor Luton got massacred but to their credit they never stopped trying to play open footy. At times in the second half they threatened to disintegrate completely in the face of constant waves of attacks. We won it by four, though it is no exaggeration to say we could have won by double figures. How many times in recent years have we been able to say that? One was an own goal but at least four efforts were cleared off the line, their ‘keeper made three wonderful saves and saved a penalty too, and we hit a post and missed another hatful of chances.

Initially Luton gave a good account of themselves, broke quickly and looked as though they might do some damage. Sadly for them they couldn’t do much in the final third of the pitch but that had just as much to do with the defensive play of Joleon Lescott at left back and Simon Davies at right back. Lescott in particular is beginning to purr like a Rolls Royce. Iain Turner got his chance in goal and did himself a power of good without being overstretched. Davey Weir and Stubbsy were back as centre backs and only slipped up a couple of times. It was our midfield passing which caught the eye. It was dazzling, I shit you not. Mikky stood out like a beacon and appeared all over the pitch doing impossible things with the ball. Up front, Andrew Johnson once again ran the opposing defence into the ground – at one time hounding both of their centre backs in a frenetic dash for a long pass wide right. He almost won the ball too; you could almost smell their defence’s fear every time he went for it. In the end, inevitably, they bowled him over in the box and gave away a pen which Mikky missed badly.

The first goal came when AJ got fouled wide right, mid way in their half. Mikky whizzed in one of his right-to-left specials, the sort that goes deceptively high and then suddenly dips downward in the last quarter of the arc. When he gets it right it’s so precise it’s impossible to defend against. This one was perfect. Joleon headed it on and Tim got on the end of it in his usual back post position and headed it back, down and in off the base of the post.

Ten minutes later and a quick raid down the left ended with the ball fizzing across the penalty area and a Luton defender stuck it in before anyone of two or three Blue shirts did the job. By now all Luton’s early eagerness was tempered in the face of increasing pressure. It began to look like the makings of a rout. Mikky’s corners and passing were creating havoc. Midfield scarcely lost a fifty-fifty, especially if Lee Carsley was on the case. The nearest the enemy got was a superbly hit free kick which thudded square against the left upright before disappearing into midfield.

The second half turned into the threatened rout, a post was hit, umpteen shots cleared off the line and their ‘keeper made some marvellous saves. When the subs came on it went from bad to worse for Luton, James Beattie came on for AJ, Victor Anichebe for Simon Davies and Mark Hughes for Davey Weir. At the start of the half Davey Weir took a bad head blow and got stretchered off after a few unnerving minutes on the ground.

No surprise after just under ten minutes play when an exquisite interchange of passes on the right opened up their defence like an old tin can and Jimmy Mac knocked it home from close range. Then with under ten minutes left Victor Anichebe did what he threatened to do on Saturday, broke away in a quick counterattack down the left, brushed off a defender and buried it low under the ‘keeper. Game shot, and how.

Yes, we have to be exceedingly cautious about how we treat this result, especially with Arsenal looming on Saturday. Of course they won’t be one tenth of one percent as accommodating as Luton. But so what? Enjoy the manner and style of the Royal Blue performance in this one while you can. We haven’t seen footy like this from them for many a long day.

Arsenal will indeed be a totally different proposition. But we’ll take that as it comes.

Alan Irvine says: "I thought we were terrific but you need to get that third goal. It was a very good performance and one we are really pleased with because there could have been more goals. Marlon Beresford made some very good saves.

It was a great goal (Big Vic's). He shrugged the boy off on the halfway line but at that point you don't really think there is a chance. At that point I was screaming for James Beattie thinking he will need to use him but he didn't. It was a terrific finish with his left-foot and a really positive and aggressive run.

The crowd was fantastic. It just shows how much they love their football." (25/10/06)

What did you think of the match?  Did Moyesy get his team selection and tactics right?  e-mail info@bluekipper.com after the game.

* I thought five goals would be scored, but I'm euqally delighted with four. Regards to David Weir the skipper. We've shown we're made of the real stuff. Keep it up lads. (Jiing Yih. Singapore)

* Every corner Mikky the Spaniard took was met by hordes of young ladies with camera's snapping the Spanish heart throb. Poor old Harry Hill came to take one, and no one budged from their seat. Oh to be a heart throb.

* Five year old Alex Moffatt, who was sat by the kipper lads, was over heard to say. "Dad I am so excited, my heart has just missed a beat." The joys of being a young Toffee man. (25/10/06)

Simple Simon has joined Tim Howard, Biffa and Tiny Tim with a snotty nose. A few other players have knocks, so we may see a few changes for the game against Luton. Iain Turner and Victor Anichebe may start and Ossie is hoping to get back into the team.

Moyesy says: "Simon Davies has gone home today not feeling too well. But the lads who didn't feel well are feeling better no, so hopefully Simon will feel better tomorrow and it is only a 24 hour thing. We are stretched. We have quite a few bumps and bruises and we are nursing a few people through at the moment. Hopefully we will have a similar squad to pick from than at the weekend and that may afford us the luxury of being able to give people breathers."

Blue Bill says: Wouldn't that be wonderful. This year - let's get to a cup final! We were busy early and that's what we set our stall out to do. We knew the ones we wanted - a centre-forward, centre half and a keeper. The decisions were made early so that the players could become members of the squad well before the season started and it looks like it's worked. That's the way we want to do things in the future." (24/10/06)

Everton From: Turner, Lescott, Yobo, Weir, Stubbs, Boyle, Arteta, Cahill, Carsley, Van der Meyde, McFadden, Osman, Anichebe, Johnson, Beattie, Howard, Davies, Neville, Hughes.

Lard's Eleven To Start: Turner, Neville, Weir, Yobo, Lescott, Osman, Carsley, Cahill, Arteta, Anichebe, Beattie.

IF ANY EVERTON FAN WANTS TO WRITE A REPORT OF ANY OF THIS SEASON'S GAMES, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DO SO. JUST E-MAIL IT TO info@bluekipper.com AND WE WILL PUT IT ON THE SITE.

Lavo's Bet: With AJ probably keeping the bench warm, we turn to some of Moyesy young guns to fire the Blues into the next round. Get on Big Vic to do just that for the Blues, and his first goal chances are 5/1. (24/10/06)

Luton in the Cup conjures up great memories of Villa Park in 1985, and Gary Linekers FA Cup Quarter Final winner in 1986. Tonight however Everton old boy Mike Newell is in charge, and Luton although a division lower in the Leagues are still a team full of confidence, especially after their 5-1 beating of hapless Leeds on Saturday last.

They have injury worries themself, in the form of midfielder Ahmet Brkovic. Newell however is in confident mood, and is looking forward to his Goodison return.

Mike Newell says: "Everton have had a good start to the season and they are the Premiership team, but they won't take us lightly. I know that for a fact. We are the underdogs, but we can go and enjoy the game. It's nice to be going in on the back of scoring five goals against Leeds on Saturday, so the players will be looking forward to it and going to Goodison with confidence.

I know David Moyes and Alan Irvine and a couple of people on the staff, and among the players I know Alan Stubbs. It's always nice to go back to an old club, particularly from my home city. I am looking forward to it. You want to be taking teams to the top clubs, whether it be in the FA Cup, the Carling Cup or, maybe, in the Premiership one day. These are the things you aim for, and I know the players want to play on the big stage as well." (24/10/06)