Everton 3-0 Burnley: Sean Dyche's side pay tribute to Bill Kenwright with EFL Cup win
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James Tarkowski played over 200 games for Burnley
Everton comfortably beat Burnley to reach the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup on a poignant night at Goodison Park, where the hosts paid tribute to late chairman Bill Kenwright.
In the team's first home game since his passing last week, the Blues honoured Kenwright in ideal fashion by booking their place in a quarter-final at home to Fulham.
Owner Farhad Moshiri was present to pay his respects to Kenwright, appearing at a home game for the first time since October 2021.
He may have witnessed victory on potentially his last appearance at the ground as James Tarkowski headed in the opener after 13 minutes against his former club.
The hosts doubled their lead eight minutes into the second half as Tarkowski nodded on Dwight McNeil's corner for Amadou Onana to poke in from close range and Ashley Young added a third late on.
Burnley cantered to the Championship title last season but have endured a miserable campaign so far and they bowed out of the cup with a whimper, managing just one shot on target in the contest.
Kenwright remembered with a win
Tributes were paid to chairman Bill Kenwright, who died aged 78 last week
Moving tributes were paid before kick-off to Kenwright, who died last Tuesday aged 78, with long-term partner Jenny Seagrove, daughter Lucy and former Toffees manager Joe Royle laying wreaths in the centre circle.
Elton John's song 'I guess that's why they call it the blues' was played inside the stadium, before those in attendance observed a period of applause for Kenwright, who was chairman for almost two decades.
A blue and white scarf was also placed on his seat in the directors' box where he had not sat since January because of security concerns.
Moshiri also joined in with the appreciation from the stands and the British-Iranian has agreed to sell his majority stake in the club to Miami-based investment firm 777 Partners.
Meanwhile, Toffees boss Sean Dyche emerged victorious in his first appearance against his former side, having been sacked by Burnley last April.
On the pitch, Tarkowski's header gave Everton the perfect start and fellow former Claret McNeil, who was roundly booed by the travelling supporters, fired narrowly over shortly after.
Onana's opportunistic effort and Young's strike on the stretch sealed Everton's fifth victory in their last seven games, sending Vincent Kompany's side out of the competition in, what has so far been, a season to forget.
It took until the 95th minute for substitute Wilson Odobert to work Jordan Pickford into a save and they now turn their focus to the Premier League, where they have collected a solitary victory from their opening 10 games.
Everton manager Sean Dyche:
"It is not easy to win football matches in any competition. Cup games have a different feel and you have to make sure players are up for the challenge. Overall I'm very pleased. We came off it a bit after the goal and they got back into it - and we went a bit soft. We corrected it at half-time and played strong in the second half. We were worthy winners.
"It was always tempting [to make changes], but the challenge you have is if you want to be super successful, seven or eight years ago people were talking about Europe here and you play a lot of football. You can play three games in a week, but we have to be sensible. You want to have the mentality to be playing every single game.
"It is a work in progress, but there is progress. Earlier in the season performances were good but we didn't get the results. It doesn't hold weight when you don't win."
Burnley manager Vincent Kompany:
"The first half was good but then mistakes cost at this level. You are in the Premier League and when you get promoted it is not supposed to be easy, you are still getting to that level. We are experiencing that now. It is part of what you have to deal with and you have to go again.
"There is such a huge gap between the Championship and Premier League. It is the motivation to belong there, the level of the Championship was similar to the Belgian league, division 10 or 12 in Europe to highest in the world. That is the exciting part and you have to stay calm with the team to get there.
"You don't accept it. Was the performance bad? No. The worrying thing would be not having the belief in the squad, but the hardcore, relentless work is what you have to live for every moment in the game. I probably don't look as defeated but I can put it into context. I would be naïve to start this season not expecting these moments."
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