Everton Triumphs 3-1 Over Coventry: Barry Shines Amid Controversy
Thierno Barry walked off to a roar that felt like confirmation. Ten goals already this season, only Erling Haaland ahead of him in all competitions, and another night where his finishing dragged Everton through a game that threatened to turn sour.
This was not a routine 3-1. Not remotely. Coventry came to Hill Dickinson to play, to press, to irritate. They left with nothing but a sense of injustice and a long list of grievances with the officials and VAR.
Everton, though, left with three wins from three in a defining week and a striker who looks like he has stepped into a different tier.
Barry’s summer work, Barry’s night
Barry spoke like a man who knows exactly why he is here.
"I just work a lot during this summer so we can see the results," he said afterwards. You can see it in the way he moves now – sharper, more decisive, more ruthless when chances come. He has missed his share this season, by his own admission, but this time he buried the ones that mattered.
Two more goals, both pivotal. The first steadied Everton after a poor concession. The second, the one Coventry insist should have been ruled out for handball, effectively killed the game.
Frank Lampard called it "the last touch to score is off the hand, in my opinion." VAR disagreed. So did Coventry’s bench, their players, and a fair chunk of neutrals watching on. But the goal stood, and Barry celebrated with a TikTok-inspired dance he’d planned the night before.
He’d even tried to rope in Tyrique George for the routine.
"I think he was shy to do it so I do the dance alone," Barry laughed. On this form, he’ll be dancing a lot more.
A flawed performance, a vital win
David Moyes didn’t pretend this was vintage Everton.
"I wasn't quite so sure about a good performance," he admitted. "We got a performance and we got a result but I have to say Coventry made it really difficult for us."
Everton gave away what Moyes called "a really poor goal". The reaction mattered more. From that point, the tempo went up, the pressing sharpened, and Coventry were forced back.
The manager’s satisfaction centred on Barry’s response to recent criticism and missed chances.
"Important that Thierno Barry got another couple of goals tonight which was huge for us," Moyes said. "He's missed quite a few chances but tonight he got important goals for us. He's becoming an important piece for us and he's got 10 goals for us which is really good."
He can "smile at me now and say I told you so," Moyes added, half-grinning. For a manager who has built his reputation on structure and graft, having a forward with this kind of streak changes the whole feel of a season.
Dewsbury-Hall drives the midfield – and swallows England pain
If Barry supplied the cutting edge, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall supplied the engine and the angles.
Everton’s midfielder called it a "fantastic week" – three games, three wins – and pointed straight at the team’s mentality as the shift from last season.
"We never know when we are out of a game," he said. "Today it was almost like their goal kicked us into gear – which shouldn't happen really, but it did – and I thought after they scored we just turned it up a notch."
For the last half-hour, Coventry simply "couldn't deal with it", in his words. Dewsbury-Hall’s hybrid role, drifting into pockets all over the pitch, gave Everton a different rhythm, and his link with Barry is growing by the game.
"I'm buzzing that he keeps on getting the goals because he deserves it so much," he said. "He's come back from the summer like a different player."
All of that came on a day that started badly for him. No England call. No dream debut on the horizon. Just a blunt reality check.
"It was a disappointing morning, I'm not going to lie," he admitted. "It's a massive dream to play for my country. I know I was close. Yeah, sad, but really proud of myself and how I have reacted."
He insists he will "keep pushing and pushing". Performances like this, in games with this kind of intensity, will keep his name in the conversation.
Coventry’s anger: hair pulls, penalties and a handball storm
Lampard left Hill Dickinson with his team beaten but far from broken. His frustration, though, was unmistakable.
"Big decisions affected the game, clearly," he said. Coventry felt three major calls went against them.
First, the James Tarkowski hair pull on Caleb Yirenkyi just before half-time. Then the Vitalii Mykolenko clip on Taiwo Awoniyi near the edge of the box. Finally, Barry’s second goal, which Lampard is convinced came off the forward’s hand.
On the hair pull, he was blunt: "It's hard to say it's not a hair pull. It's an in-between kind of hair pull, that's a funny area to be in so I don't get that one either."
Dale Johnson, analysing the incidents, noted that the law on hair pulling has been relaxed this season. Not every tug is a red card now. It must be excessive force for a dismissal. But for a penalty, it only needs to be a foul. Coventry will feel they met that threshold.
The VAR, Tim Wood, appeared to focus more on a potential Tarkowski handball in the same sequence. Johnson suggested Coventry "probably should have received a penalty."
The Awoniyi incident turned on geography. The camera angle level with the edge of the box seemed to show the contact outside the area. VAR cannot intervene to award a free-kick, only a penalty. No spot-kick, no review.
The most contentious call came with Barry’s second goal. Replays suggested the ball might have brushed his arm before changing direction and finding the net. Johnson pointed out that similar goals have been disallowed this season, including a high-profile Nottingham Forest strike at Tottenham.
This time, VAR decided there wasn’t "conclusive proof" of handball. Coventry saw an angle that convinced them otherwise. Lampard was adamant: "The last touch to score is off the hand, in my opinion."
Jamie Redknapp, watching on, didn’t hide his view: "Sometimes you need things to go your way in football, you need a bit of luck and there is no doubt Everton had it today."
Spirit in defeat, questions for the officials
For all the noise around the decisions, Lampard clung to the positives.
"A lot of good stuff in the way we played which makes it really difficult to lose the game," he said. "We have to keep working, I'm seeing progression in the team. There is a good spirit with us and we have to keep improving."
Coventry pressed high, broke with purpose, and forced Everton into mistakes. On another night, with another referee, they might have had two penalties and a very different scoreline.
Instead, they watched Barry celebrate, watched Everton fans sing from "the first minute until the end," as the striker put it, and watched a game tilt away from them on the tightest of margins.
Everton won. Coventry fumed. VAR will be picked apart again.
And as Barry chases Haaland in the scoring charts and Dewsbury-Hall chases an England dream, the lingering question is simple: in a season this tight, how many campaigns will be shaped by nights like this, where the big calls fall one way and never come back?
