Thierno Barry's Hat-Trick Powers Everton to 5-0 Victory Over Preston

Thierno Barry walked off with the match ball and a statement performance, his first Everton hat-trick powering a ruthless 5-0 dismantling of Preston North End and booking a home Carabao Cup third-round tie against Wolves.

On a night that could easily have drifted into routine early-round fare, Everton turned it into something far more emphatic. Barry was at the heart of it. So was Brennan Johnson, the summer signing finally shaking off his own drought.

Moyes means business

David Moyes did not treat his old club gently.

The Everton manager, who spent four years in charge at Preston, resisted the temptation to rotate heavily. Just three changes from the opening-weekend Premier League win over Crystal Palace underlined his intent, and the tone was set from the first whistle.

Everton snapped into challenges, moved the ball crisply and pinned Preston back. The Championship side, winless in their first two league games, looked exactly like a team still searching for rhythm. Seven changes from their defeat by Wolves only added to that disjointed feel.

The pressure told after 25 minutes.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall split Preston open with a superb pass, Vitalii Mykolenko raced on to it and whipped a low ball across the face. Barry had read it early, gliding into position to tap home. Simple finish, devastatingly constructed move.

Preston’s brief flicker

For a short spell, Preston threatened to make a contest of it.

Leo Leroy found space inside the area and, for a moment, Goodison tension flickered. His effort, though, failed to hit the target, a let-off that underlined the gap in sharpness between the sides.

Tyler Dibling then cracked a shot against the post, a reminder that Everton’s back line was not entirely untroubled. Iliman Ndiaye, lively and inventive, produced a fine cross that picked out Barry again, only for the forward to glance his header just wide.

Those half-chances were as close as Preston came. Once Everton reasserted control, the tie slipped away from Paul Heckingbottom’s side.

Barry takes over

Just before the hour, Barry struck again.

Dewsbury-Hall unleashed a fierce drive from the edge of the box, Preston goalkeeper Lee Nicholls could only parry, and Barry reacted quicker than anyone, pouncing on the rebound and steering it into the net. Instinct, timing, and a striker in form.

Callum Lang briefly jolted Jordan Pickford into action with an ambitious overhead kick, but it felt like an interruption rather than a shift in momentum.

Everton’s response was brutal.

On 70 minutes, a sweeping move carved Preston open down the right. Substitute Johnson, drifting into space, delivered a sharp low cross. Barry arrived with perfect timing again, turning the ball home to complete his hat-trick and end the tie as a contest.

Three goals, three different types of finish. A centre-forward’s clinic.

Johnson joins the party

Johnson was not done.

The forward, signed from Crystal Palace this summer and without a goal since November, finally found the moment he needed. With 18 minutes remaining, Barry turned provider, sliding a through ball into his path.

Johnson drove a low strike into the net, a clean, confident finish that spoke of a weight lifted.

By then, Everton were cruising. Passes zipped, confidence flowed, and every attack looked like it might add to the damage.

Barry, already on four goals for the season after scoring in the 2-0 win over Palace, appeared to pick up a knock late on and was withdrawn, his work long since complete.

He left to the kind of ovation reserved for strikers who change the mood around a club. If this is the standard he sets in August, what might his season look like by spring?