Nine attempts came and went at Deepdale before Everton scored. The tenth went in, and after that Preston North End were never really in the game. Thierno Barry scored three and set up the fourth as David Moyes' side won 4-0 to reach the Carabao Cup third round on Wednesday night.
Barry's night in numbers
The French striker scored eight goals in 41 appearances across the whole of 2025/26. He is now halfway to matching that after two games of this season, having already scored in Saturday's Premier League win over Crystal Palace. Thirty-eight fewer games, four goals in.
The first came in the 25th minute, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall floating a ball out to Vitalii Mykolenko on the left, whose cutback left Barry with a simple sweep. His second arrived just before the hour, Iliman Ndiaye feeding Dewsbury-Hall whose cross was pushed straight into Barry's path by the Preston goalkeeper. The hat-trick goal on 70 minutes came from a Brennan Johnson square ball. Two minutes later Barry returned the favour and Johnson went alone to make it four.
Moyes: he came back with a better attitude
Moyes was measured afterwards, which is his way. "It ended up being a little bit more comfortable than I thought it might have been before the game," he said. "I thought we played well at times and our football was quite good, but we need to finish things off a bit better in the first half than we did."
On Barry specifically, the Everton manager did not pretend the improvement was accidental. "I told him at the end of last season he has to do a lot better than he did before. That's it. We want centre-forwards to score goals. I don't think it's easy for anybody coming to the Premier League in their first season, especially centre-forwards. He's come in with a much better attitude generally, so whoever's working with him is doing a good job."
Brennan Johnson finding his old self
Johnson's goal was his first since November 2025. He joined from Crystal Palace earlier this month and has been eased in slowly. "We want to find what he did at Tottenham when he was scoring all those goals," Moyes said. "His assist tonight was brilliant and his finish as well. We don't want to bring him on too quick, but he's done well tonight."
Preston boss Paul Heckingbottom pointed to the timing of Everton's second, which landed just as he was preparing a triple substitution. "It just changed the game," he said, before making a blunter point about his squad: "We've got defenders on the bench, a couple more midfielders, wing-backs and some young boys. That's where we're at." Everton, who have not gone past the third round since 2023/24, face Wolves next.
Match facts: Preston North End 0-4 Everton, Carabao Cup second round, Deepdale, Wednesday 26 August 2026. Scorers: Barry (25, 59, 70), Johnson (72). Everton drawn against Wolves in round three.
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