If some had been wondering when the James Garner of last season was going to re-emerge or where, apart from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Thierno Barry, Everton’s goals were going to come from this season, they got some answers on an evening that emphatically lifted the gloom that had set in following dismal defeats to Chelsea and Arsenal.
This was an often frenetic and occasionally testy bout between two teams who have both made an erratic start to their respective Premier League campaigns but the Blues landed the crucial blows and ran out comfortable winners, with Dan Burn’s 88th-minute header the only consolation for Newcastle United.
Everton were 3–0 up and coasting by that point thanks to first-half goals from Garner and Hayden Hackney and an expertly-finished third from Barry midway through the second period as David Moyes’s men gave the Bramley-Moore Dock crowd something to cheer with clear passage to the League Cup quarter-finals and a date with Fleetwood Town.
As expected, the manager rang a couple changes to the team that had started at the Emirates Stadium last Saturday, with Harrison Armstrong given a rest until the second half and Hackney handed his first start since the win over Wolves in the previous round.
Likewise Tyler Dibling who lined up wide on the right in front of Merlin Röhl and on the opposite flank to Tyrique George who kept his place with Jack Grealish absent from the team sheet, reportedly due to disciplinary action.
After putting together a nice move very early on where Dewsbury-Hall saw a shot deflected behind for a corner, Everton’s general start to this tie was a little ragged and Jordan Pickford was called into action three times inside the first 20 minutes to repel a Harvey Barnes header from Nico Gonzalez’s dangerous cross and shots by Joe Willock and Fabian Schär as the Magpies tried to draw first blood.
Having weathered the opening, though, the Toffeemen found their feet and carved out their first opening in the 20th minute when Vitalii Mykolenko swung a ball in towards the near post but Hackney couldn’t get enough purchase on his shot to steer it inside the upright.
Dibling, who was industrious but not as remarkable when compared with his stellar outing in the last round, then screwed a left-footed effort wide while, at the other end, James Tarkowski put in an excellent block to deny William Osula.
11 minutes before half-time, however, the hosts made the breakthrough. George chased Amar Dedić into the corner and benefitted when the Bosnia international’s attempted clearance struck his leg and bounced to Hackney. He slipped it neatly inside to Garner who swept it on the stretch across Lukáš Horníček and into the far corner of the goal to make it 1–0.
It was the midfielder’s first goal since his penalty in the FA Cup against Sunderland in January and it set the seal on what was a vastly improved overall performance from him.
Back in front of the North Stand, Barnes lashed a loose ball wide when he might have done better and a mistake in midfield from Röhl let the visitors in but Barnes’s shot was deflected into the arms of a grateful Pickford.
From the ensuing counter-attack, Everton doubled their lead. Driving forward from midfield, Dewsbury-Hall, another player enjoying a welcome return to his best form, was chopped down in full flight by Jacob Ramsey but referee Farai Hallam sensibly played the advantage as Barry shimmied the loose ball past the retreating Lewis Hall and out to the far side of the box.
Turning back, he spotted the run of Hackney, curled a pin-point cross to the edge of the six-yard box and the former Middlesbrough man made no mistake with a cushioned volley that he guided home past the stranded keeper.
Matthias Jaissle made a triple change at the break in an effort to rescue the tie, throwing Yoane Wissa, Joelinton and Anthony Elanga on in place of Ramsey, Barnes and Osula and the Magpies would have the first two chances of the second half without making a dent in the scoreline.
Wissa ghosted in behind Jake O’Brien but couldn’t put enough on a header to loft it over Pickford while a long-range Dedić strike took a wicked deflection off Hackney and looped over for a corner that Burn could only plant into the stand behind the goal.
With Hackney having been withdrawn in favour of Armstrong after picking up a booking, the Blues put the result practically beyond doubt with their third of the night. Garner stepped in smartly to intercept Dedić’s infield ball and sent Dewsbury-Hall away with a nice reverse pass.
The latter powered to the left edge of the Newcastle box before squaring it to Barry who held up his run to receive the pass, set himself with a touch and then calmly place the ball between Horníček and his near post. It was a consummate striker’s finish that belied the Frenchman’s gangly and occasionally awkward style. It also took his tally to seven in all competitions for the season.
Newcastle would finish the match having had 28 shots, only nine of which were on target, an indication of how open the game was at times. However, though Pickford was the busier goalkeeper in terms of saves he had to make, on the whole he wasn’t unduly troubled.
His save from Hall’s low drive in the 71st minute was routine, he bailed Mykolenko out by denying Willock while O’Brien got in the way of Joelinton’s goal-bound missile from the rebound, and then dealt with Elanga’s late chance before his clean sheet was muddied by a late Newcastle goal.
Willock did well to float a cross in from the Barcodes’ left where Burn rose completely uncontested by the static O’Brien to simply nod home from a yard or so out. An irritating blemish on an otherwise stirring evening of cup football that sparked a melée in the goalmouth as Burn tried to grab the ball to quickly restart the game resulting in two players from each side being booked.
While it was loose and a bit porous at times, this was a markedly better performance from Everton than the two that preceded it in the Premier League and that sort of energy, drive and purpose must be the template moving forward, starting on Monday when these two sides meet again, this time at St James’s Park.
Whether Hackney, the most exciting performer on the night, has done enough to convince the manager that he deserves to start remains to be seen but he will definitely have given Moyes more food for thought.
Beyond that lies that Quarter-Final matchup at Highbury where another professional display against League Two Fleetwood would see the Toffees into a first cup semi-final since 2016.