Everton suffered another blow in their troubled start to the season as they were knocked out of the Carabao Cup on penalties by fellow Premier League strugglers Southampton following a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park.
Sean Dyche’s Toffees went into the third-round tie looking for another boost from the cup, with two more defeats since their 3-0 round two win over Doncaster leaving them with no points from their opening four league games of the campaign and bottom of the table.
They went in front via Abdoulaye Doucoure’s 20th-minute header, but Southampton – also yet to get off the mark this season in the top flight – levelled through Taylor Harwood-Bellis just past the half-hour mark.
With Everton’s Jesper Lindstrom having twice been unable to convert good opportunities, seeing shots saved by Alex McCarthy either side of the equaliser, the tie required spot-kicks for a winner.
It was Russell Martin’s Saints who then emerged triumphant, winning 6-5 after McCarthy pushed substitute Ashley Young’s attempt against the post.
Both sides were much-changed with Everton – who had led 2-0 only to be beaten 3-2 in each of their last two outings, against Bournemouth and Aston Villa – having eight adjustments to their starting line-up, and Southampton’s showing 10.
Everton threatened early on with Beto’s drive being turned behind by McCarthy at his near post, and soon after Dwight McNeil – who had been started in an unfamiliar left-back role – headed over.
The hosts then took the lead when Jake O’Brien kept McNeil’s corner in play and Michael Keane’s header teed up Doucoure to flick in from close range.
Lindstrom subsequently failed to make the most of a great chance to double the advantage, seeing McCarthy save his shot after being played in Doucoure – and six minutes later the score was level as Harwood-Bellis connected with Charlie Taylor’s free-kick to send a header bouncing past Joao Virginia.
After efforts off-target from Keane and, at the other end, Maxwel Cornet prior to the break, Lindstrom found himself through one-on-one with McCarthy once more early in the second half but again could not capitalise as the goalkeeper made another save.
Virginia then made a save to deny Ryan Fraser, before a double substitution by Dyche saw 17-year-old midfielder Harrison Armstrong replaced by Jack Harrison and Beto come off for Young, which was followed by a few boos from Everton fans in the crowd.
Southampton substitutes Ben Brereton Diaz and Tyler Dibling made unsuccessful attempts at a late winner, as did McNeil, Tim Iroegbunam, another to have come on for Everton, and Young as the contest headed towards penalties.
The shootout that followed saw both teams register five successful efforts and James Bree then score Southampton’s sixth, before McCarthy thwarted Young to send the visitors through.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here