Everton Beat Newcastle 3-1 to Reach the Carabao Cup Quarter-Finals

By TaazaPulse News Desk · Published: 30 October 2026 · TaazaPulse News Desk

Everton beat Newcastle United 3-1 at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Thursday night to reach the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, where they will face League Two side Fleetwood Town, in a result that ended the defending champions' hold on the trophy and capped a remarkable evening for David Moyes' side — achieved without Jack Grealish, who was left out of the squad for a breach of club discipline.

The goals came from James Garner in the 34th minute, Hayden Hackney just before half-time, and Thierno Barry in the 69th minute, before Dan Burn headed in an 88th-minute consolation for Newcastle from Joe Willock's cross. It was a victory built on counter-attacking ruthlessness: Newcastle dominated possession and racked up far more shots, but Everton scored with almost every clear chance they created, and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, when called upon, was outstanding.

The pre-match story had been Grealish. The Everton winger, on loan and central to the club's attacking play this season, was omitted from the matchday squad after what the club described as a breach of discipline, reported as an unauthorised absence from training. Moyes, who has never been a manager to indulge indiscipline, made his decision and then watched his side win without their star — a vindication of the call that will strengthen his authority in the dressing room, whatever the longer-term consequences for Grealish's loan.

Newcastle, backed by 8,000 travelling fans, had the better of the opening exchanges. Harvey Barnes was the first to test Pickford with a header, before the goalkeeper also made saves from Willock and Fabian Schär, while Vitaliy Mykolenko made a huge block to keep out Jacob Ramsey's strike. Everton were slow to get going, and Hackney should have broken the deadlock in the 20th minute, only to scuff his shot as he met Mykolenko's whipped cross at the near post.

The game turned with two moments of quality at either end of the pitch. A superb challenge from James Tarkowski saved Everton as William Osula went to pull the trigger from close range. Moments later Tyrique George harried Amar Dedic into a poor clearance which deflected into the path of Hackney, who quickly slipped it inside for Garner to pick out the far corner of the net from the edge of the box. It was Garner's first goal since January, and it changed the whole complexion of the tie.

The second goal, late in the first half, followed a similar pattern. Newcastle surrounded referee Farai Hallam after Barnes went down under Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's challenge in the box, but their appeals were waved away, and seconds later Everton were celebrating again. Hallam played advantage when Dewsbury-Hall was fouled by Ramsey, and Barry dinked in a cross from the left for Hackney to stroke home. Hackney, last season's Championship player of the year who joined Everton from Middlesbrough in the summer, was making only his third start for the club — and he had his first Toffees goal.

Newcastle boss Matthias Jaissle sent on Anthony Elanga, Joelinton and Yoane Wissa at the break, and Wissa almost got through on goal nine minutes later, with Pickford quickly out to snaffle a tame header. But Newcastle huffed and puffed without really threatening to get back into it, and the decisive third goal arrived in the 69th minute: Barry, pulling clear of Burn at the back post, fired home from Dewsbury-Hall's cross for his seventh goal in eleven appearances this season. It was the killer blow, and the Hill Dickinson Stadium knew it.

Burn partly made amends at the end, heading in Willock's cross in the 88th minute, but it was far too late to spark a comeback, and Pickford and his defence held firm through the closing minutes. Everton's win was, in the end, comfortable — a 3-1 scoreline that reflected their efficiency rather than the balance of play, and a result that keeps alive their pursuit of a first trophy since the FA Cup in 1995.

The quarter-final draw has handed Everton a tie that, on paper, they should win — and that is precisely why it will demand their full attention. Fleetwood Town, of League Two, reached the last eight by beating Arsenal on penalties earlier in the week, one of the great cup shocks of recent years, and they will believe, with justification, that they can trouble another Premier League side. Moyes' team are now clear favourites to reach the last four of a competition they have never won, but Fleetwood's run is a warning against complacency, and Everton's own history is full of cup ties lost to lower-league opposition.

For Newcastle, the defeat ends their defence of a trophy they lifted in 2025, and it raises questions that go beyond one night. Jaissle's side had the ball, had the shots, had the territory — and lost 3-1. The pattern of dominating games without converting that dominance has become familiar, and the trip to Fleetwood that Everton will now make is one Newcastle had expected to be making themselves. The two sides meet again quickly, in the Premier League on Tyneside on Monday night, and that rematch now carries an extra edge: Newcastle will want revenge, and Everton will arrive believing they have the measure of their opponents.

There were individual stories everywhere on Thursday. Tyler Dibling, finally given another start by Moyes with Grealish out and preferred to Brennan Johnson, worked tirelessly on the wing without quite finding his final ball — a performance of effort rather than end product, but one that will have pleased his manager. Garner and Hackney, the midfield pair, made the difference: one goal each, one assist each, and a control of the game's key moments that Newcastle's more celebrated midfield could not match. And Pickford, so often the subject of debate, produced the saves that kept Everton in the game when Newcastle were on top.

The wider Carabao Cup picture is taking shape around Everton's win. Bournemouth, who beat Aston Villa 3-0 in the same round, will face Liverpool in the quarter-finals, and the draw has opened up in a way that gives several clubs a genuine chance of reaching Wembley. For Everton, who have waited thirty-one years for silverware, the path is clearer than it has been for a long time — but it runs through Fleetwood, a club with nothing to lose and a recent history of humbling giants.

The cup history on both sides of this tie added weight to the result. Newcastle arrived as the holders, having lifted the trophy in 2025, and their supporters travelled in numbers expecting a defence to gather momentum. Instead, they watched their side dominate the ball and lose the tie, a reminder that cup football rewards efficiency over possession. Everton, meanwhile, have never won this competition, and their last major trophy of any kind came with the FA Cup in 1995 — a drought that has shaped the club's modern identity and that makes every cup run feel heavier than it looks on paper. Thursday's win does not end that drought, but it shortens the road considerably.

Fleetwood's own story deserves a paragraph of its own, because it explains why the quarter-final will not be a formality. The League Two club reached the last eight by beating Arsenal on penalties earlier in the week, a result that sent shockwaves through the competition and that made them, overnight, the tie every remaining club wanted to avoid for entirely different reasons. Arsenal had learned, to their cost, that Fleetwood cannot be overlooked; Everton, who have suffered their own share of cup humiliations down the years, will know better than to treat the trip as a coronation. The draw has given Moyes' side a winnable tie and a dangerous one in equal measure.

Monday's Premier League rematch on Tyneside will be a different game entirely. Newcastle, stung by a cup exit at the hands of a side they outplayed for long stretches, will demand a response in front of their own crowd, and Jaissle will expect his attackers to convert the chances they created on Thursday. Everton, for their part, will travel with confidence and with a question of their own: whether Grealish returns to the side, and what Moyes' handling of the discipline issue means for the weeks ahead. Cup ties do not always predict league games, but this one has set a tone — Everton believe they can beat Newcastle, and Newcastle know they must prove Thursday was an aberration.

Thursday night at the Hill Dickinson Stadium will be remembered for the discipline call as much as for the goals. Moyes left out his star player, trusted his squad, and watched them deliver a 3-1 win over the cup holders. It was, in its way, a statement about what this Everton side is becoming: organised, ruthless on the counter, and no longer dependent on any one player. The quarter-final at Fleetwood awaits. The trophy, for the first time in a generation, feels within reach.