Doncaster Rovers almost pull off famous upset against Everton in Carabao Cup

Rovers belied their current status as the Football League's basement club and had an Everton starting XI worth a reported £185 million on the ropes in the first half after taking a deserved lead through Joe Ironside's header.

But their brave resilience was broken by the Blues' new £30 million striker Beto in the 73rd minute.

Beto emerged from the bench at half time to get his new side out of jail before Arnaut Danjuma fired home in the 88th minute to prevent penalties.

Doncaster should have capitalised on a shaky start from the visitors when England's number one Jordan Pickford made a mess of a back-pass with just two minutes gone.

From that, Joe Ironside forced a corner which fell to an unmarked Joseph Olowu, who couldn't direct his header goalwards.

Beaten in their first three top-flight matches this season and without a goal, Everton’s continued lack of attacking bite was summed up when Lewis Dobbin tried to find a teammate with a backheel pass, only to fall over.

Blues boss Sean Dyche made just four changes from their last Premier League match, underlining his need for a win.

But for large spells they continued to look off colour in front of goal.

At the other end Tommy Rowe came close to opening the scoring after 22 minutes but his effort flew just over.

Rovers got their just reward for their best 45 minutes of the season by a country mile on the stroke of half time when Ironside headed them in front after beating everyone inside a crowded box to Rowe's cross following a well-worked corner.

TV replays showed him to be offside but with no VAR in place the goal stood.

That kicked Everton into life and they almost responded immediately but Ian Lawlor denied Amadou Onana with his legs after a bursting run into the box.

Relentless Rovers took the ball straight back up the other end as they kept coming and almost doubled their lead on the stroke of half time.

Pickford was at full stretch to deny Rowe after he met Westbrooke's pass then straight back up on his feet as he scrambled to collect the ball after it was hooked back towards goal.

Dyche made a triple switch at the break with Ashley Young, Beto and Idrissa Gueye replacing Nathan Patterson, Lewis Dobbin and Yousef Chermiti.

That triggered a slight improvement from Everton at the start of the second period but brave Doncaster continued to probe and Faal and Molyneux saw goalbound efforts blocked in the 54th minute.

Beto slid the ball past Lawlor to equalise after meeting a ball over the top as Doncaster began to tire following a huge shift.

You couldn't help but think it might have been their night moments earlier when the Portugese sliced a shot wide.

Everton's spell finally arrived after that and Beto and Danjuma hit the woodwork before the latter made no mistake when he found the back of the net with a shot from the edge of the box to settle the contest.

Grant McCann’s side were given a standing ovation at full-time. Their wait for a Premier League scalp at the Eco-Power Stadium goes on.

Rovers: Ian Lawlor, James Maxwell (Deji Sotona, 90), Joseph Olowu, Luke Molyneux, George Broadbent, Tommy Rowe (Tyler Roberts, 83), Owen Bailey, Joe Ironside, Jack Senior, Zain Westbrooke (Jack Goodman, 90), Mo Faal (Sam Straughan-Brown, 83)

Subs not used: Louis Jones, Richard Wood, Adam Long, , Tyler Roberts, Bobby Faulkner, Tavonga Kuleya

Everton: Jordan Pickford, Nathan Paterson (Ashley Young, 46), Michael Keane, Amadou Onana, Arnaut Danjuma, Abdoulaye Doucoure (Neal Maupay, 84), Vitaliy Mykolenko (James Tarkowski, 74) Ben Godfrey, Youssef Chermiti (Idrissa Gueye, 46), James Garner, Lewis Dobbin (Beto, 46)

Subs not used: Joao Virginia, Jarred Branthwaite, Tyler Onyango