By Anthony Marshall - Newcastle United Managing Editor

At Goodison Park

Everton 3 (McCarthy 20, Lukaku 56 pen, Barkley 90)

Newcastle United 0

Ten-man Newcastle United suffered a 3-0 defeat away at Everton in the Barclays Premier League on Sunday.

Goals from James McCarthy, Romelu Lukaku and substitute Ross Barkley condemned the Magpies to a pointless afternoon at Goodison Park, with their day further soured by a straight red card for captain Fabricio Coloccini.

Gabriel Obertan and Mike Williamson both went close in an early opening for the visitors before McCarthy easily struck past Tim Krul from distance to give the Toffees an advantage they rarely looked like giving up.

Ten minutes into the second half, Yoan Gouffran's heavy touch led to him bundling over the excellent Aaron Lennon inside the penalty area, with Lukaku confidently doing the honours from the spot.

And almost immediately Coloccini was given his marching orders by referee Martin Atkinson after clattering Lennon, who had skipped past him in the middle of the park.

Barkley rubbed salt in the wounds in stoppage time, putting the finishing touch on a rapid counter-attack, rounding Tim Krul and slotting home.

United will look to bounce back next Saturday as they entertain Arsenal at St. James' Park.

The game was less than three minutes old when Newcastle almost broke the deadlock.

Ryan Taylor chipped a corner towards the near post and as Everton failed to clear their lines, Obertan fired a drive through a clutch of players, which Tim Howard did well to parry.

That wasn't the end of the danger, however, as Williamson seized upon the loose ball and prodded goalwards from inside the six-yard box, only to be denied by the body of Toffees midfielder McCarthy, who was guarding the post.

That sparked the hosts into life and Lukaku twice warmed the palms of Tim Krul from distance in response, before they edged in front in the 20th minute.

Phil Jagielka's long ball was controlled by Lukaku and laid into the path of McCarthy, who strode forward before unleashing a 20-yard drive which deceived Krul's dive.

Right on the stroke of half-time, Everton almost doubled their advantage when Leighton Baines' deep right-wing corner was nodded goalwards by Antolin Alcaraz.

For a moment it appeared to be sneaking in, but Taylor was on hand to hack clear from inside the six-yard box.

Head coach John Carver responded to a lacklustreshowing from his side by introducing Spanish forward Ayoze Perez for Obertan.

And Newcastle were inches away from levelling things up, four minutes into the second half, through Taylor.

Felled by Darron Gibson 20 yards out, the former Tranmere man picked himself up to curl the resulting free-kick over the wall and agonisingly over the bar as well.

United had made an encouraging start to the half but all that good work was undone on 55 minutes when they gifted the hosts a second goal.

Gouffran took a heavy touch inside his own box and when Lennon nipped ahead of him, the French forward sent Lennon tumbling, leaving referee Martin Atkinson with a simple decision of pointing to the spot.

And Lukaku did the rest, rolling the penalty low into the bottom right-hand corner, with Krul diving the other way.

Things went from bad to worse three minutes later when the Magpies were reduced to ten men.

As Lennon skipped infield, Coloccini went crashing through him and got nowhere near the ball, with Atkinson immediately producing a red card for the Argentine.

Everton went in search of a third to put the result beyond any doubt and Krul did well to beat away an Arouna Kone strike from the edge of the area, before producing an even better stop to keep out Leon Osman's bouncing half-volley.

Substitute Ross Barkley was next to try his luck, picked out by Lennon's cutback and sweeping a finish past Krul - only to see Taylor brilliantly-placed on the goalline to hook clear.

Newcastle had offered precious little threat since Coloccini's dismissal but Sissoko almost halved the deficit in the 78th minute, cutting in from the left and firing a low curling effort towards the far bottom corner, which only a brilliant fingertip save from Howard kept out.

Everton still had one more effort in them and made it 3-0 in stoppage time through substitute Barkley.

As the hosts broke at pace, the England international was slipped in by fellow replacement Christian Atsu, and he calmly rounded the onrushing Krul before sidefooting in from a tight angle.

Everton (4-2-3-1): Tim Howard; Seamus Coleman, Antolin Alcaraz, Phil Jagielka (c), Leighton Baines; Darron Gibson, James McCarthy (Muhamed Besic 86); Aaron Lennon (Christian Atsu 84), Arouna Kone, Leon Osman; Romelu Lukaku (Ross Barkley 73)

 

Subs not used: Joel Robles, Luke Garbutt, John Stones, Steven Naismith

Newcastle United (4-2-3-1): Tim Krul; Daryl Janmaat, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini (c), Ryan Taylor; Moussa Sissoko, Jack Colback; Gabriel Obertan (Ayoze Perez 46), Yoan Gouffran, Sammy Ameobi (Remy Cabella 58); Emmanuel Riviere (Jonas Gutierrez 62)

 

Subs not used: Rob Elliot, Lubomir Satka, Vurnon Anita, Adam Armstrong

 

 

Referee: Martin Atkinson (Yorkshire)

Bookings: Everton - Lennon (79); Newcastle - Taylor (29), Sissoko (55)

Sendings off: Everton - none; Newcastle - Coloccini (59)