Everton’s forgotten man Charly Alcaraz stepped up when his side needed some inspiration to score the only goal in the Carabao Cup third round win over Wolves just three minutes after coming on as a substitute.
The Argentinian had played just 14 minutes all season but belied his lack of match sharpness with a quick switch of the ball from one foot to the other to guide a left-footed shot past former Toffees goalkeeper Joao Virginia in the 80th minute.
It also represented a minor success for Tyler Dibling, whose career has not really taken off since his £35million move from Southampton just over a year ago, as he claimed the assist at the end his most encouraging performance for the club.
Alcaraz’s only other Everton goal came 13 months ago in this competition against Mansfield and he has remained a fringe player.
But with squad numbers at an almost critical level, everyone is expected to contribute and the 23-year-old ensured his side avoided the lottery of penalties and a potential upset.
The hosts struggled to put on a show for Prime Minister Andy Burnham and his Canadian counterpart and fellow Toffees fan Mark Carney, who had met for official talks at Hill Dickinson Stadium earlier in the day.
The on-loan Jack Grealish made his first start for the club since his previous spell in January in a team which contained seven regulars, with centre-back pair James Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite among those rested.
But even with that relative strength the hosts struggled to break down the Championship’s seventh-placed team, who made nine changes themselves.
Grealish regularly drifted in off the left to an already-congested area but it was on the opposite flank where there seemed to be more room for optimism.
Dibling’s first-half contribution was one driving run to the byline from where his cross was cut out but he gradually grew into the game.
The 20-year-old, making his first appearance since a disappointing 64 minutes against Preston in the previous round, has a tendency to slow things down when he receives the ball but when he did inject some pace he became more of a threat.
Threat was something Everton were lacking with Thierno Barry, who scored a hat-trick against a second-string Preston side in the previous round, directing a close-range header too close to Virginia when he should have buried James Garner’s cross.
Jake O’Brien, playing in his preferred centre-back position after almost a season filling in on the right, headed Garner’s inswinging corner into the side-netting and Virginia parried Grealish’s shot from the edge of the area but it was meagre fare.
Early in the second half Adam Armstrong, on for the injured Raul Jimenez, broke clear and Jordan Pickford stuck out a foot to divert his shot behind.
Barry was replaced by Brennan Johnson early in the second half and, after Michael Keane headed wide, almost immediately drew Virginia into a save from Dibling’s incisive through-ball.
Dibling’s work-rate has been questioned at times but there was no admiring his exquisite pass as he fully committed to racing back to dispossess Tawanda Chirewa.
But it was in the attacking third where he made the most significant impact, teeing up Alcaraz for the winner.
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