Everton rallied to salvage a point at home to Leeds United.
The visitors took the lead shortly before the half-hour mark when James Justin was teed up by Anton Stach to slot home from a counter attack.
But Thierno Barry drew David Moyes’ side level on 76 minutes by meeting Idrissa Gueye’s cutback with a poacher’s finish inside the six-yard box.
The Blues currently sit four points off a European place after moving up to tenth in the Premier League table with their third straight game unbeaten.
Here were the key talking points from Hill Dickinson Stadium:
Barry bucking Blues’ striker curse
Leading Everton’s front line isn’t easy – just ask Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
When the goals fail to flow, the pressure becomes almost crippling; as the Leeds United striker encountered during nearly a decade on Merseyside.
His replacement Thierno Barry looked set to follow his opposite number down that well-trodden path with zero goals from his opening 16 appearances.
Often, he found himself hooked at half-time in favour of attacking cohort Beto or, when roles were reversed, was tasked with limited time to make an impact.
Barry, however, has officially flipped that narrative on its head.
A fourth goal in his last five Premier League outings was executed with clinical aplomb as he saw off Sebastiaan Bornauw to meet Idrissa Gueye’s cutback.
The France under-21 international’s return is made all the more impressive with a 50% ratio from 10 shots on goal, compared to zero in his first 15.
While he is still adapting to the physical rigours of English football, Barry appears primed to buck the trend of Everton’s modern striker curse.
DCL shows what isn’t missed
Calvert-Lewin’s return to Merseyside offered another timely reminder.
After leaving as a free agent in the summer, the club’s former No.9 had undermined his previous travails with a streak of seven goals in six games.
His prowess has slowed somewhat since that flurry during the festive period as he found the net just once in his next four top flight appearances.
Critics still suggested that the Blues had made a mistake in seeing the former marksman depart and subsequently be picked up by Daniel Farke’s side.
Doubtless the one-time England international will have wanted to drill home that message in a maiden trip to Hill Dickinson Stadium on Monday night.
But Calvert-Lewin merely confirmed what Evertonians had already known.
Save for a first-half effort which crashed against the post, his involvement was largely peripheral as the visitors found more joy from other attacking outlets.
Few of the royal blue persuasion were sad to see the back of Calvert-Lewin and little about his underwhelming flying visit suggested they were wrong.
Moyes’ matched energy pays off
David Moyes’ largely unflinching nature has often been to his detriment.
His ‘Dithering Dave’ nickname acquired during a first spell in the Everton hot seat is never far away whenever the Scot opts for reluctance over resilience.
Yet Moyes has shown on occasion that he is capable of stepping outside his comfort zone, as his in-game management in the second half fully attested.
Jarrad Branthwaite and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s introductions at the interval saw the hosts switch to a 3-5-2 system which mirrored Leeds’ own formation.
By his own admission, Moyes had hoped to avoid utilising the pair in full 45-minute runouts after their respective injury frustrations over recent months.
He need not have worried with the England international’s ability to bring the ball out from defence offering a new dimension to Everton’s attacking play.
Dewsbury-Hall’s return to the final third, similarly, was integral to putting the Whites’ previously untroubled back line under siege for large parts of the half.
Moyes prefers to lead rather than follow but matching energy has its benefits.