Evertoneased their relegation worries as they beat 10-man Newcastle 3-0 withtheir first win at Goodison Park in 2015.
Everton’sproblem is their over-reliance on Romelu Lukaku’s goals, so it was a welcomechange when unlikely marksman James McCarthy scored his first of the season. McCarthy’s goal in 20th minute froma Lukaku lay-off, opened the Toffees lead, but the Magpies goalkeeper, Tim Krul,was at fault for letting in the tame effort in, as he appeared to be diving inthe wrong direction, despite having full view of the shot.
Newcastlewere very poor, and were very much the architects of their own downfall in thisencounter.
Their best chance in thefirst-half was when Gabriel Obertan’s shot was saved by Tim Howard, while MikeWilliamson’s shot was blocked on the line by McCarthy.
The Magpies’hopes of getting back into the match were cancelled eleven minutes into thesecond-half, as Yoan Gouffran, who was attempting to dribble the ball on theedge of his penalty area, tripped Aaron Lennon in the box. The Belgianinternational, Lukaku, scored the spot kick, his 17th goal of theseason.
Threeminutes later, the Magpies captain Fabricio Coloccini got sent off after hefelled Aaron Lennon. Although thecontact did not look strong, the referee Atkinson saw enough to hand thedefender a straight red.
There werefurther chances for Everton in the second-half, as Aruna Kone and Leon Osmanwent close, before RossBarkley rounded off a fantastic afternoon for the Toffees, when he netted thethird deep into injury-time.
The result was welcomed at Goodison Park, which hasbeen a glum place so far this season.
The win moved Everton to six pointsadrift of the relegation zone, as they managed to combine their Europa Leagueexcursions with Premier League survival. The Toffees were coming into the match on theback of their 2-1 comeback win in their first leg of the Europa League last-16against Dynamo Kiev, and this result will boost their confidence ahead of theThursday night trip to Kiev, for the second leg match.