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Gerard Deulofeu didn't leave Barcelona for nights playing cup football in Barnsley.

But with Everton looking as though they were adding another chapter in their sorry League Cup saga, they are thankful he did.

Introduced at half-time and charged with dragging Everton out of the hole they found themselves in against League One side Barnsley, Deulofeu delivered a scintillating cameo that included three assists.

Everton are into the third round against Reading but they have the Catalan Kid to thank for that.

As the players walked off after the end of extra time, having won a breathless tie 5-3, Deulofeu chucked his shirt into a crowd of more then 4,000 jubilant Evertonians who made sure the cold Yorkshire night air was filled with the sound of his name.

It's not where Deulofeu dreams of being man of the match but he will know how much his performance meant to Everton's fans - and to his manager.

Conversely, the night had been a troubling one for John Stones, who was jeered by the away fans after handing in a transfer request on Tuesday.

At full-time, after a below-par display, Stones clapped with away fans as he walked off.

Everton failed to match Barnsley's enthusiasm early on

Afterwards, Roberto Martinez said Everton will reject his transfer request and insisted the 21-year-old is staying at the club.

The scene was in stark contrast to earlier in the evening when Everton's League Cup curse hung heavy in the air at Oakwell.

Everton were fighting to stay in the competition, unable to match the enthusiasm of their hosts who revelled in their underdog status.

This was a cup tie, a game that had the potential for an upset but the Blues didn't seem to grasp the fact.

The first two goals they conceded, six minutes apart, were cheap, sloppy and totally avoidable.

First Sam Winnall profited from Everton's ham-fisted attempts at clearing a routine cross into the box before Marley Watkins did the same when Kevin Mirallas and Joel Robles flapped at a ball lumped to the back post.

Barnsley were energetic and up for it, but for Everton, who have a wretched record in this competition, their first-half offering has to be up there with one of their worst in the League Cup.

They were predictably booed off.

Something had to change - and it did

Stones had not looked so out of sorts in a long time, either.

He knows Oakwell like the back of his hand but these were circumstances alien to him – and it showed.

Stones regained some of his composure as the game wore on but was largely not himself.

Everton, too, were in dire straits as they trudged off at the break to the sound of anger ringing in their ears.

Something had to change.

It did with the introduction of Deulofeu and Ross Barkley as Martinez looked to inject some urgency into his side.

Matthew Pennington, making his senior debut, was unfortunate to be one of those to make way but Martinez's decision will have been purely tactical.

And where McGeady in front of him had been poor, in contrast Deulofeu was bright and direct; he and Barkley galvanised Everton.

Mirallas smashed home a cross six minutes into the second half cut the deficit after Romelu Lukaku had nodded down Bryan Oviedo's cross.

Suddenly, out of the wreckage of the first half, they pulled out hope of a comeback.

We've been taught to expect the worst in this competition

Everton's supporters may have vented at half-time but their backing from the restart was incredibly strong.

Eight minutes after Mirallas had scored, Deulofeu got the by-line and crossed for Steven Naismith to head Everton level.

The thousands in the away end roared, Everton were officially back in this tie and back in the competition - or so we allowed ourselves to believe.

Reece Wabara raced in behind Everton all too easily and picked out Dan Crowley who slotted past Robles to make it 3-2.

Everton were on terms for no more than a minute.







History had taught us to expect the worst in this competition but we wouldn't listen.

Deulofeu, in particular, refused to give in as Everton went looking for their second equaliser of the night.

The Blues should have been awarded a penalty when Oviedo was clumsily bundled over in the area, however referee Simon Hooper waved away the appeals of the Everton players and an irate Martinez.

Quite simply, Hooper got it wrong.

Everton grasped what a cup tie is all about

Thankfully, Deulofeu kept getting it right and with 12 minutes left delivered another tantalising cross that Lukaku gobbled up to make it 3-3.

Anger, frustration, agony and elation had all been wrapped up in one night of football – and there was more to come.

Barkley and then Naismith fizzed efforts marginally wide as Martinez's men cranked up the pressure.

Wabara knew nothing off Lukaku's thunderous shot that cannoned off his head and away for a corner with Davies looking like he was struggling to get across his goalline.

The Barnsley keeper was the rooted to the spot as Mirallas met Lukaku's cross with a glancing header that missed the top corner by inches.

By now, Everton really had grasped what an English cup tie is all about but it would go into extra time.

The momentum was with Everton and six minutes after the restart, Marc Roberts turned Deulofeu's cross into his own net.

It had taken Everton 96 minutes but, finally, they were in front.

They would remain so, but only thanks to the width of a crossbar, before Lukaku made certain of their passage into round three with Everton's fifth late on.

BARNSLEY (4-4-2): Davies; Wabara (Rothwell 94), Roberts, Mawson, Nyatanga; Scowen, Pearson, Watkins (Smith 105), Crowley; Hourihane, Winnall (Wilkinson 83). BOOKINGS: Roberts, Mawson, Winnall.

EVERTON (4-2-3-1): Robles, Pennington (Barkley 46), Stones, Jagielka, Oviedo, Besic, Cleverley, McGeady (Deulofeu 46), Naismith, Mirallas (McCarthy 110), Lukaku. Subs: Howard, Kone, Browning, Holgate.

ATT: 12,290.