Thierno Barry resembled a striker reborn, and the goalscorer David Moyes desperately needs, as the first hat-trick of his Everton career plus an assist for new signing Brennan Johnson delivered a resounding win for the Scot on his competitive return to Preston.
The France under-21 international scored eight times in a difficult debut season in England but has half that amount two games into this fledgling campaign. Barry followed up his header against Crystal Palace with a poacher’s hat-trick to give Moyes a convincing victory back at the club where he made his name before leaving for Everton in 2002.
“Thierno worked with somebody back home in the summer who tried to change his mindset a bit,” said the Everton manager of the 23-year-old’s early season improvement. “He found it difficult last year, as a lot of boys coming in from overseas do, and it can be even worse if you’re a centre forward. Generally, he has been much better since he came back but I would still like more. A couple of his goals were laid on a plate and I want him to score some of the other opportunities he had as well.”
Before the tie Moyes attracted accusations of a lack of ambition – the kind that has contributed to the longest trophy drought in Everton’s history at 31 years – with a spiky response to being asked how important cup competitions are this season. “I’ll ask you the question,” he had replied. “Is winning a cup more important than staying in the Premier League? What would your answer be?” But a club of Everton’s stature should not have to choose between league survival and cup success. Perhaps Moyes’s question was directed towards Everton’s owners, The Friedkin Group, who have so far shown little ambition themselves in this summer’s transfer market. The Scot maintains Everton are short on numbers and quality ahead of Tuesday’s deadline.
The Everton manager could not be accused of treating the Carabao Cup lightly on the evidence of his team selection at Deepdale, where only Jarrad Branthwaite, Hayden Hackney and Tyrique George were missing from the side that started on the opening day. Paul Heckingbottom, by contrast, made seven changes from the Preston team beaten by Wolves on Saturday.
Everton’s approach mirrored Moyes’s intent. The visitors dominated from the start with Preston struggling to establish a foothold. Harrison Armstrong received a warm reception on his return to the club where he spent a fruitful spell on loan last season and, as against Palace, produced another accomplished display. The 19-year-old’s sharp touches and movement, alongside that of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, stretched the Championship defence repeatedly.
Dewsbury-Hall engineered the breakthrough with a beautifully weighted pass over the Preston defence to Vitalii Mykolenko. The Everton left-back’s neat control gave him time to assess his options and he squared for Barry to convert with ease.
Preston’s threat was virtually non-existent in the first half. There was more aggression and less deference from the home side after the restart but, just as Deepdale found hope, Barry extinguished it with his second of the night. Dewsbury-Hall was again heavily involved as he exchanged passes with Iliman Ndiaye before stinging Lee Nicholls’s palms with an angled drive. The rebound fell kindly for the in-rushing Barry to poke home.
Barry completed his hat-trick with a tap-in from Johnson’s selfless cross before returning the favour with a defence-splitting pass that the Everton substitute slid under the exposed Preston keeper. “I loved being back,” said Moyes of his return to Deepdale. No wonder, on this evidence.
