Everton can be content with their work heading into the international break. Unbeaten and up to fifth, David Moyes’s side saw off Ipswich in a close-fought contest settled by Thierno Barry’s unorthodox finish, and the refereeing body Pro Ref will be relieved that another contentious video assistant referee intervention did not ultimately determine the outcome.
Barry’s goal arrived after 11 minutes, his fifth of the season and comfortably his strangest. James Tarkowski’s 25-yard volley followed a Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall cross that Christian Walton and the lively Jack Clarke had only half cleared, and although the Ipswich goalkeeper appeared to have the shot covered, Barry reacted sharply to chest the ball into the opposite side of the net and leave him wrong-footed. The striker clearly moved to play the ball with his chest, earning him the benefit of the doubt over his intention.
Everton had begun brightly and should have scored even earlier. Harrison Armstrong pierced the Ipswich defence to find Brennan Johnson, who spun away neatly from Issa Diop to give himself a clear sight of Walton’s goal, only to drag his shot wide. Before all of that, in the third minute, both sets of supporters produced a moving ovation in memory of Noah Woods, the three-year-old from Suffolk who went missing on Tuesday.
There was good fortune in Everton preserving their lead until half-time. A steady stream of unforced errors from previously in-form players – Dewsbury-Hall, Jarrad Branthwaite and Armstrong among them – left Moyes visibly exasperated and invited pressure from the visitors. A loose Dewsbury-Hall pass led to Jordan Pickford denying Emersonn, the first sign of the sloppiness to come.
Ipswich’s most persistent threat came from Abdul Fatawu down the right flank, which made what followed all the more galling for O’Neil as his team chased an equaliser. The Ghana international forced a fine save from Pickford after Everton made a hash of clearing his corner, and he attempted to beat the England goalkeeper from inside his own half after intercepting a cross-field pass from Tarkowski, with Pickford scampering back to save a long-range effort that was drifting wide. Fatawu should also have claimed an assist late in the first half when he floated a cross over the Everton defence to Leif Davis, but the left back, perhaps surprised to find himself onside and unmarked in front of goal, scuffed his shot badly wide of the far post.
Ipswich started the second half on top, Pickford saving from Julio Enciso and Abdoul Ouattara in quick succession, but it was Everton who converted next. Barry rose between four static Ipswich players to meet a Dewsbury-Hall corner with a glancing header that sailed in off the inside of the far post, only for referee Stuart Attwell to be sent to the pitch-side monitor to review whether the offside Johnson had interfered with Walton. Johnson was clearly offside but was not impacting the goalkeeper’s ability to make the save – Walton was on the opposite side of the goal to where the header went in and made no appeal, turning away in dismay to collect the ball for the restart. Attwell decreed otherwise, and the home crowd responded furiously when the goal was disallowed and replayed on the giant screens.
Fatawu then helped Everton recover shortly afterwards. Already booked for hauling down Dewsbury-Hall in the first half, the winger invited a second yellow card when he dived to win a free-kick against James Garner, and he became only the third player in the last six Premier League seasons to be dismissed for simulation as a second bookable offence.
Against ten men, Everton had numerous chances to add a second but Johnson, Dewsbury-Hall and Armstrong all miscued, while Walton produced a fine save to deny substitute Tyler Dibling. That profligacy made for a nervy finale as Ipswich piled forward in search of an equaliser, and Branthwaite helped Everton over the line by launching himself in the way of Diop’s goal-bound shot.