Thierno Barry Leads Everton to Victory with Double Against Coventry
Thierno Barry had waited a year for a night like this. When it finally came, he tore Coventry apart in five ruthless minutes.
Everton, flat and trailing to Yann Gboho early in the second half at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, looked in danger of wasting momentum in a season that has quietly started to gather pace. Then Barry caught fire.
Two chances. Two finishes. One transformed game.
The 24-year-old’s double flipped a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead and set Everton on their way to a 3-1 win that lifted them to fifth and underlined why David Moyes has kept faith in a striker many had already written off.
From misfit to marksman
Barry arrived from Villarreal with a reputation for potential and a highlight reel of missed sitters that quickly became a running joke. Last season he snatched at chances, dragged shots wide, and watched the crowd’s patience fray week by week.
Now? He has 10 goals already this campaign, more than he managed in the whole of 2025-26. Six of those have come in his last seven appearances in all competitions. The numbers tell their own story, but the body language tells an even louder one.
“We gave away a really poor goal but the reaction from there was really good,” Moyes said. “Important that Thierno Barry got another couple of goals tonight which was huge for us.
“He can smile at me now and say I told you so and that’s good. We always liked him and we want him to keep scoring.”
Barry once dragged chances wide that seemed harder to miss. This time, with the game leaning away from Everton, he stayed calm, picked his moments and finished with the conviction of a striker who suddenly trusts himself again.
Moyes, on the night he equalled Harry Catterick’s Everton record of 592 games in charge, watched one of his biggest gambles start to look like one of his smartest calls.
“He’s missed quite a few chances but tonight he got important goals for us,” the Everton manager said. “He’s becoming an important piece for us and he’s got 10 goals for us which is really good.”
Only Erling Haaland has scored more in all competitions among Premier League players this season. Barry knows exactly whose company he is keeping.
“I’m very happy because I’m a fan of him (Haaland). I watch a lot of videos of him and try and do the things he does,” Barry said. “If I can stay with him until the end to get the Golden Boot I will try.”
Ambitious? Certainly. But it no longer sounds ridiculous.
Moyes’ Everton find their edge
This was Everton’s third straight win in all competitions, a run that has nudged them into the top five and, more importantly, given them an identity again. They came from behind, they rode spells of pressure, and when the moments came, they were clinical.
“We got a performance and we got a result but I have to say Coventry made it really difficult for us,” Moyes admitted. “In the end we got the goals which mattered.”
The goals that mattered came from Barry, but the night also belonged to Moyes. Matching Catterick’s 592 games is not just a statistic; it is a measure of endurance at a club that has lurched between eras and ideas. On an evening when the past hovered in the background, the future wore No. 9 and decided the contest.
Lampard’s fury on the touchline
On the opposite bench, Frank Lampard seethed. His Coventry side had led, had Everton rattled, and left the stadium convinced that two penalty calls and a handball decision had swung the match away from them.
“Big decisions affected the game, clearly,” said Lampard, who once stood in Moyes’ technical area as Everton manager between January 2022 and January 2023.
“VAR looked at them. The James Tarkowski hair pull on Caleb Yirenkyi, then Vitaliy Mykolenko on Taiwo Awoniyi, I think he gets contact on the edge of the box which is a penalty.
The second goal for them comes off the player’s hand. If you’re going to check the angles, there is an angle where it flicks in off his hand. VAR looked at it and decided not.
The last touch to score is off the hand, in my opinion. I’ve seen a conclusive angle so I can disagree.”
Coventry left with nothing but frustration and a sense of grievance. Everton left with three points, a resurgent centre-forward, and the feeling that something is starting to build.
For Barry, once the punchline, the question now is simple: can he stay close enough to Haaland, long enough, to turn a personal revival into a genuine Golden Boot chase?
