Barry scores again as Everton topples Newcastle
Everton battled to a 1-0 victory over Newcastle United as Thierno Barry's second-half goal made the difference at St James' Park.
Barry, who netted the winner in the corresponding fixture last season – which was actually Everton's last away victory in the Premier League – scored in the 49th minute.
It was nothing less than Everton deserved, though, after an accomplished display in which it was the better team from the off, while Newcastle's miserable night was capped off by Jacob Ramsey's late red card.
Merlin Rohl lashed over from a tight angle, but the breakthrough could well have arrived bang on the 23rd minute, when Jarrad Branthwaite flicked on a set-piece. Barry, though, completely missed his attempted finish.
Joelinton hammered wide from distance but Everton kept up the pressure, and the superb Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall teed up two excellent chances on the cusp of half-time.
Dewsbury-Hall delivered a teasing cross that was just out of Jake O'Brien's reach, before the playmaker set up Harrison Armstrong, who skewed wide from the centre of the area.
However, Everton's pressure told just after the restart. Tyrique George got in down the left from a free-kick, and his shot was fumbled on the slick surface by Lukas Hornicek, with Barry on hand to tap into an empty net.
Hornicek pulled off some impressive saves to deny Branthwaite, Dewsbury-Hall and O'Brien, and Newcastle almost made their goalkeeper's work count when Anthony Elanga got on the end of a deep cross, but a combination of Jordan Pickford and the post kept it out.
Fabian Schar got away with a desperate last-gasp challenge on Barry soon after, and Everton's goal lived a charmed life when Ramsey volleyed wide and Pickford kept out Yoane Wissa's strike.
But Ramsey's dismissal for two bookings in as many minutes in second-half stoppage time marked the end of Newcastle's comeback hopes.
Thierno Mamadou Barry
Everton FC
