**Everton made light work of Newcastle on Thursday night to progress into the EFL Cup quarter-finals.**
The Hill Dickinson witnessed a statement victory for Everton, beating Newcastle 3-1 thanks to goals from James Garner, Hayden Hackney, and Thierno Barry. Newcastle denied the Toffees a clean sheet with a late consolation through Dan Burn.
Here is what we learned from the win over Newcastle.
So much has been made of Hayden Hackney’s lack of minutes for Everton since his summer arrival. [David Moyes urged Hackney to be patient](https://www.everton.news/david-moyes-tells-hayden-hackney-how-he-can-become-the-next-tim-cahill-at-everton/). Against Newcastle, his chance came, and the midfielder grabbed it with both hands, offering something his competition, Harrison Armstrong, doesn’t.
Hackney scored and assisted against the Magpies, days after [Leon Osman went on record demanding goals from Armstrong](https://www.everton.news/leon-osman-has-one-request-of-harrison-armstrong-at-everton-and-hes-right-to-make-it/). With Everton’s main fault this season being a lack of goals, Hackney may have just pushed himself up the pecking order and into Moyes first eleven. Aside from the goal and assist, Hackney also looked really keen to impress and was using his physicality really well.
It might not get him the start on Monday, but Hackney has certainly given Moyes something to consider, and the promise of more minutes should be coming.
This season, Everton’s goal-scoring hopes have rested firmly on the shoulders of Thierno Barry, but against Newcastle, he turned creator. Barry picked out a perfect cross into Hackney for Everton’s second.
It proved that when he isn’t completely isolated up top alone, and Moyes gets bodies near him, Barry can be more than a goalscorer and also create opportunities for his teammates.
This has to be the plan going forward to get the best from Barry and, importantly, for Everton to score more goals – winning more games in the process.
All of this being said, he is a fine goal scorer too, with seven this season already.
Everton haven’t scored enough goals this season, with players not really stepping up and contributing. But in the cup, Hackney and James Garner both scored, and Moyes will be thrilled.
Barry can’t do it all alone, even though he has an impressive return this season, and the midfield needs to do more for Moyes, just like they did in the cup. This is the blueprint for Moyes going forward: get players up close to the Frenchman and reap the rewards.
The performance should massively lift confidence and hopefully this new found attacking prowess can be carried into the league.
Nobody will be getting ahead of themselves, but with this huge win, Everton are into a quarter-final with one of the lowest sides in League Two right now, Fleetwood Town.
The giant killers beat Arsenal, but Everton should be confident of a comfortable evening, and barring a huge upset, it is one foot into the semi-finals and a chance to go all the way in the competition.
Silverware would mean everything for the club, and Moyes should be throwing everything at reaching the final and maybe even lifting a trophy, which comes with European football.
This season, frustration has been growing around Everton’s lack of wins, which has been papered over by lots of draws instead. But Thursday night saw a performance that every fan would have been dreaming of.
A comfortable win, lots of goals, and an excellent defensive showing. It was a vision of what this Everton side are capable of against a very talented Newcastle side. But it also shows Everton fans are right to demand more from the side.
Perform like this every week and European football is a guarantee for Everton.