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JOLEON LESCOTT has issued an apology to Everton's supporters following the team's Carling Cup exit at Blackburn - but reckons he and his team-mates can make it up to the fans by hitting back in tomorrow's Merseyside derby.
A 10th-minute goal by Blackburn's Martin Olsson ensured this season's Carling Cup run for Everton was over after just one game after David Moyes's side entered the competition at the third round stage due to European qualification.
The Goodison Park outfit have never won the League Cup in any of its varying guises but reached their first semi-final in the tournament for 20 years last season before eventually going out to Chelsea.
I WAS at Ewood Park on Wednesday hoping to see a strong Everton team make progress in the first domestic cup competition and there was indeed a very decent looking line-up on the field that - of the players available - was missing only Tim Cahill and Ayegbeni Yakubu, who were both rested.
I was even more confident of success having had sight of the Blackburn Rovers team sheet showing only three players who would normally be considered first choice regulars.
And it seemed as though my expectations were shared by the Everton fans, who travelled in their thousands and made it more like a home game with their vociferous backing.
LOST: one team, finished fifth in the Premier League last season, enjoyed an exhilarating European adventure and reached the Carling Cup semi-finals. If found, please return to Mr D Moyes, Goodison Park, L4 4EL.
As has been the case too often during the start to a campaign that can now only be described as deeply concerning, we find ourselves picking through the wreckage of another unsatisfactory - some would say unacceptable - Everton performance.
The Carling Cup may be derided in some quarters but last season it was the spark that ignited things for the Blues. Hopes were high again this time around that another lengthy run towards Wembley was in the offing.
But, much to everybody's dismay, Everton got exactly what they deserved against Blackburn Rovers last night - nothing - and again played in a manner which suggested those who contributed to the success of 2007/08 have been kidnapped and replaced by impostors.
DAVID MOYES admitted he understood the frustrations of Evertonians last night after their Carling Cup dreams were shattered at the first hurdle.
The Blues were booed off both at half-time and full-time by a travelling section that accounted for nearly half of the 14,366 crowd inside Ewood Park, as Martin Olsson's ninth minute goal secured Blackburn Rovers' passage through to the fourth round.
It was a display way below the standards that Moyes has come to expect from his players, and, given how much he wants to win a piece of silverware for the club, the manager was aghast with Everton's limp showing.
DISAPPOINTED David Moyes admits Everton deserved to be jeered from the field after crashing out of the Carling Cup last night.
A 10th-minute goal from left-back Martin Olsson was enough to earn Blackburn Rovers a 1-0 victory at Ewood Park in their third round tie.
Everton, semi-finalists in this competition last season, struggled to muster a response despite the introduction of Tim Cahill and Yakubu from the bench at half-time.
THE Carling Cup proved the catalyst for success last season at Everton. Last night, though, the competition underlined how such progress has since alarmingly stalled.
A potentially season-defining week began in dismal fashion as the Goodison outfit floundered at the first hurdle at Ewood Park.
Reaching the semi-finals of this competition last season had been a significant landmark in David Moyes's tenure at the club, one which generated a momentum that pushed his team towards fifth place in the Premier League and the last 16 of the UEFA Cup.
Yet hopes of a similarly morale-boosting run were dashed by a 10th-minute goal from young Blackburn left-back Martin Olsson.
Everton assistant boss Steve Round looks ahead to his side's Carling Cup third round clash at Ewood Park
SQUARE pegs, round holes, catastrophic consequences: the manner of defeat may have been heartbreaking, but many more will follow if action is not taken - immediately.
Goodison Park has just experienced its most exasperating, perplexing and turbulent summer in years and the questions which have left Evertonians tearing their hair out, wondering what has happened to their great club, are still no closer to being answered.
Temporary respite was supposed to come on the opening day of the new campaign but, as many feared - and a few expected - Blackburn Rovers arrived on Merseyside sensing an opportunity and duly took full advantage of Everton's alarming vulnerability.
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