Updated at 22.15

JOINT-INTERIM manager Seamus Coleman got his coaching career off to a winning start as Everton beat Peterborough 2-0 in the FA Cup this evening.

Ireland international Jake O’Brien made just his third start for the Toffees since his big-money move from Lyon in the summer and completed the game.

Elsewhere, Ireland U21 international Rocco Vata scored a brilliant individual goal in Watford’s 4-1 loss to Fulham.

Caretaker managers Leighton Baines and Coleman succeeded where Sean Dyche so often failed as Everton not only scored but won a few hours after sacking the former Burnley boss.

Eight goalless games in 10 outings, including just one shot on target in the previous 180 minutes, played a large part in Dyche’s afternoon departure.

But more significant was the three league wins all season, leaving the team a point above the relegation zone, so with the manager gone the third round of the FA Cup offered some respite in the hands of two club stalwarts, one the U18s coach and the other the long-serving captain.

However, their touchline stint will be a one-off with former boss David Moyes set to come back 12 years after leaving.

Beto’s 42nd-minute strike, his third goal of the season coming in a third different competition, and Iliman Ndiaye’s late penalty saw a team picked by Dyche before his departure edge past the 19th-placed Sky Bet League One visitors.

17-year-old academy graduate Harrison Armstrong, making only his sixth appearance, brilliantly threaded through a pass and with Jadel Katongo leaving it too late in stepping out Beto — linked with a move to Torino — had time and space to round goalkeeper Nicholas Bilokapic for a first goal since October.

Dyche’s sacking came after days of negotiation over his pay-off on a contract due to expire in the summer and when the details were eventually finalised hours before kick-off TFG pulled the trigger immediately.

The 53-year-old knew he was on borrowed time, having admitted to the owners his tenure had run its course after almost two years.

TFG had already sounded out Graham Potter earlier in the week before he opted for West Ham and Moyes is now in pole position for an emotional return as the club say farewell to Goodison Park at the end of the season.

The American-based group, as owners of Roma, have already shown they are not afraid to make big calls on managers.

Jose Mourinho was sacked 18 months after winning the Serie A club’s first European trophy, while his replacement Daniele De Rossi, a club great and fan favourite, lasted eight months. De Rossi’s successor Ivan Juric got the boot after just 12 games.

Dyche oversaw two relegation escapes, one on the final day of the season, but his overall record was poor and this season exposed his shortcomings and those of a squad low on quality and numbers with just three Premier League wins — and only 15 goals — all season, leaving the side just a point above the bottom three.

With a new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock to move into next season the club cannot afford to be threatened by relegation again and Dyche paid the price for taking a limited squad as far as he could.

However, there was a delay as TFG, which only assumed control 21 days ago, were not prepared to acquiesce to Dyche’s financial demands as it is determined to run the club on a more sustainable financial footing in the light of the lavish spending under previous incumbent Farhad Moshiri, which ultimately resulted in two separate points deductions for breaching profitability and sustainability rules last season.

Dyche’s parting gift was to change formation to 3-5-2 and hand O’Brien, a £16million (€19 million) summer signing, only his fifth appearance of the season.

The sight of the centre-back and Nathan Patterson tackling each other on the touchline for the ball, which rolled out of play, was an inauspicious start.

Orel Mangala smashed a volley against the crossbar from George Nevett’s half-clearance before Jarrad Branthwaite, one of the few successes under the former manager, blocked Ireland underage international Cian Hayes’ goalbound shot with his chest.

Beto struck and, after the break, Idrissa Gueye blazed over from Patterson’s cut-back but old problems persisted with further goals hard to come by until Ndiaye’s stoppage-time penalty after Katongo’s foul on Branthwaite.

But striker Armando Broja departing on a stretcher, with his right leg in a splint, straight to a waiting ambulance will only compound problems for the new manager.

A Rocket from Rocco 🚀

Rocco Vata with a stunner from distance for @WatfordFC 🤯#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/lrfUJWC4ZH

— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) January 9, 2025

Meanwhile, Fulham had four different scorers in the defeat of Watford at Craven Cottage.

After a well-worked counter-attack saw Rodrigo Muniz net his first goal of 2025, Vata scored what will be considered a goal-of-the-competition contender with a thumping long-range effort to draw the sides level.

Raul Jimenez continued his fine scoring record from the spot before Joachim Andersen and Timothy Castagne scored their first goals of the season to help Marco Silva’s side topple his former club and advance into the next round.

Finally, Cian Ashford struck the only goal as Cardiff turned the form book upside down at Bramall Lane by dumping Sheffield United out of the FA Cup with a 1-0 win.

Ashford marked his eighth senior start for Sky Bet Championship relegation battlers Cardiff with a first-half strike that settled their third-round tie in front of a paltry crowd of just 6,126.

Harrison Burrows struck a post for the Blades late in the game, but it was too little, too late for Chris Wilder’s much-changed side.

English FA Cup results on Thursday:

Third round:

Everton 2 (Beto 42, Ndiaye 90+8-pen) Peterborough 0

Fulham 4 (Muniz 26, Jimenez 49-pen, Andersen 65, Castagne 85) Watford 1 (Vata 33)

Sheffield United 0 Cardiff 1 (Ashford 19)

Additional reporting by Paul Fennessy