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Barnsley 3-5 Everton

By Steve Nicholls

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Everton avoided becoming the victims of a massive upset as they came from two goals down to defeat Barnsley in the Capital One Cup second round on Wednesday evening.

The Blues have hardly had much to get excited about in this competition in recent years and it very much appeared as though they were on their way to another shock loss in the tournament until Gerard Deulofeu was introduced at half time.

Roberto Martinez put a relatively strong team out, aside from the confusing inclusions of Matthew Pennington and Aiden McGeady, and the latter should have opened the scoring when Kevin Mirallas’ parried shot found him eight yards out with just the keeper to beat. However, the winger’s effort was too tame and the hosts escaped.

The away outfit hadn’t started well and found themselves behind just after the 20-minute mark as confusion between Phil Jagielka and John Stones allowed Sam Winnall to coolly guide the ball into the bottom corner from 12 yards.

It went from bad to worse for the Toffees as Mirallas was denied a stonewall penalty when he was bundled over in the area, before the League One side doubled their lead in horrific fashion.

A hopeful ball in from the right was headed towards Joel Robles, who should have collected easily, but instead fumbled, permitting Marly Watkins to tap into an empty net to send the home fans into ecstasy.

Steven Naismith should have halved the deficit just before the break, but had too many touches after he had rounded the Barnsley stopper, and the first half ended with the Tykes two goals to the good.

Gerard Deulofeu and Ross Barkley were introduced at the interval and the latter swept over from 18 yards straight from the restart.

The visitors did grab one back five minutes in when a poor Barnsley header set up Mirallas to expertly direct an acrobatic volley into the roof of the net.

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The momentum was firmly with Everton and Deulofeu was causing the home side all manner of problems. The Spaniard played a lovely one-two with Romelu Lukaku, but then saw his shot from 12 yards saved.

The former Barcelona man was instrumental in the equaliser not long after, with a wonderful bit of skill down the right and a pinpoint cross finding Naismith unopposed in the area to bullet a header into the top corner.

Barnsley sent a shock to the system just seconds later, however, with poor marking from the otherwise impressive Muhamed Besic allowing the hosts to divert a cross into the middle for Dan Crowley to brilliantly poke into the bottom corner.

Roberto Martinez’s men had to come back once more and that they did in impressive fashion, and once again it was Deulofeu at the heart of it. The attacker escaped down the right and delivered a peach of a cross for Lukaku to bundle home to restore parity.

Deulofeu nearly got the goal his play deserved with the last kick of normal time, but his curled attempt from the left flew a yard or two over.

It seemed as though the Toffees’ extra quality would pay off in extra time and that is exactly how it panned out, with summer signing Deulofeu again at the heart of everything good about the team’s play.

The 21-year-old worked more magic down the right before crossing into the middle and Marc Roberts put the ball in his own net under pressure from Lukaku, who would have steered home from point blank range anyway.

The visitors came under pressure in the second half of extra time, but a rapid breakaway sealed the win when Barkley supplied Lukaku out wide and the Belgian charged in on goal before calmly finishing into the bottom corner.

Progression to the third round is secure, but there is still plenty of work to be done for Everton, who simply cannot rely on the magic of Gerard Deulofeu week in week out.

Next: John Stones Reportedly Hands In Transfer Request

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