Coventry led through Gboho, and Thierno Barry’s two goals in five minutes have put Everton above Liverpool
Barry scored twice and set up Dewsbury-Hall as Everton came from behind to beat Coventry 3-1, while Frank Lampard said VAR got three calls wrong.
Nov 7, 2026
Coventry City were 1-0 up at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Friday night when Yann Gboho turned away from three Everton defenders and poked the ball past Jordan Pickford in the 52nd minute. Nine minutes later they were behind. Thierno Barry scored twice in five minutes, then set up Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall for the third, and Everton won 3-1.
The result takes Everton to fifth in the Premier League on 16 points from 10 games, one above Liverpool. That order may not last the weekend. Liverpool have played a game fewer and go to Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Five minutes that turned it
Barry’s first came in the 56th minute, a header from Vitalii Mykolenko’s cross. His second, in the 61st, came from Tyrique George’s delivery and looked very similar, except that Coventry’s players were sure it had come off his arm. VAR could not find an angle that showed it had, so the goal stood. Asked about it afterwards on Sky Sports, Barry said: “A goal is a goal.”
He made the third as well. With nine minutes left he slipped the ball to Dewsbury-Hall, who scored at the near post from a tight angle. Barry now has 10 goals in all competitions this season. He scored eight in 41 games last season.
Everton had needed him.
Lampard’s three VAR complaints
Frank Lampard, a former Everton manager, left with three decisions to argue about. In the first half James Tarkowski pulled Caleb Yirenkyi’s hair. VAR looked at it and gave neither a red card nor a penalty, and Lampard pointed out that the law has changed so a hair pull is no longer an automatic red. Early in the second half, before Coventry scored, Taiwo Awoniyi went down under a challenge from Mykolenko, and VAR ruled the contact was outside the box. Then came Barry’s second.
“VAR is there for that and it didn’t do its job,” Lampard said.
Coventry were not outplayed before the break. Tatsuhiro Sakamoto shot straight at Pickford and Jack Rudoni drove one just wide from distance, while their own Victor Torp had to clear a Harrison Armstrong flick off the line. They stay 16th on nine points. They beat Sunderland 3-1 on 31 October, but they are only two points clear of the bottom three with the rest of the round still to play.
Everton won 1-0 at Newcastle on Monday, so that is two league wins in four days for David Moyes. Whether they are still fifth on Sunday night is up to Liverpool at Selhurst Park.