Tim Cahill was the rare exception - starting Everton's FA Cup clash with Sunderland and drawing some quality saves from the Sunderland goalkeeper before being substituted in second half stoppage time.

Everton will now meet Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final after defeating Sunderland 2-0. Nikica Jelavic and David Vaughan scored as Everton put in a dominant performance at the Stadium of Light.

But elsewhere the news was not so good for many of the Aussies.

In the Championship, Rhys Williams is likely to be out for Middlesbrough for at least another three weeks with an ankle ligament injury.

Boro have now gone five matches without a win after drawing 1-1 against Ipswich town. The result is a blow for the Teessiders who are in the midst of a closely fought battle for a promotion play-off place.

With seven games remaining, Boro are sitting in fifth position, just two points clear of the chasing pack.

However Scott McDonald returned to training last week and could be back in action for them in time for the Championship run-in. The Socceroo striker had scored 9 goals in 26 games before sustaining a knee injury on February 1.

At Crystal Palace, Mile Jedinak lost his race to be fit in time for his side’s 1-1 draw against Doncaster Rovers. Jedinak picked up a slight groin injury on the weekend.

Palace are now in 13th position, six points away from a promotion play-off place.

In League One, Bailey Wright played another full match as Preston North End lost 3-1 to Brentford. The Victorian born defender, who was overlooked by Jan Versleijen for the Young Socceroos, has put it some assured performances at the back and seems to have secured his spot in Preston’s starting XI.

Alex Cisak came off injured after colliding with the post in Oldham’s 1-0 loss to Leyton Orient. Cisak was replaced by fellow Aussie goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis.

Orient were gifted a golden opportunity to score when a mistake from Bouzanis left Kevin Lesbie with an open goal. The young shot stopper watched with relieve as Lesbie fired his shot wide.

Oldham’s other Australian, James Wesolowski, is still recovering from shoulder surgery and is unlikely to play again this season.

On Tuesday morning, Mark Schwarzer was back to his best as Fulham went down 1-0 to league leaders Manchester United. The result would have been a lot worse for the Cottagers had Schwarzer not made some important interventions.

Sixteen minutes from time, Ashley young looked set to double United’s lead when he fired a stinging volley towards the Fulham goal. In a virtuoso piece of goalkeeping, Schwarzer blocked the shot before charging out to foil the follow up.