Thierno Barry delivered one of his finest performances of the season — scoring twice and setting up a third — as Everton came from behind to beat Coventry City 3-1 at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Friday evening. It was a result drenched in controversy, with Coventry seeing three separate VAR interventions go against them.

Gboho stuns Everton with the opener

Coventry took the lead in the 52nd minute through Yann Gboho, who marked his first goal for the club in spectacular style. The winger slalomed through the Everton defence and poked the ball past Jordan Pickford to give Frank Lampard's side a deserved advantage.

It looked as though Coventry had the platform to build on, but Barry had other ideas. The striker — Everton's only fit forward — levelled in the 56th minute, heading home from the back post after Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall delivered a pinpoint cross.

Barry's controversial second seals the turnaround

Five minutes later, Barry struck again with a near-identical header at the back post to put Everton in front. Coventry protested furiously, convinced the forward had used his hand to guide the ball home. VAR reviewed the goal but found no conclusive evidence of handball, and the goal stood.

Dewsbury-Hall then wrapped up the victory in the 81st minute, latching on to a razor-sharp through ball from Barry and firing into the near post from a tight angle. It was a particularly satisfying moment for Dewsbury-Hall, who had been omitted from Thomas Tuchel's England squad earlier that same day.

Three VAR calls haunt Coventry

The officiating storyline began as early as the 39th minute, when James Tarkowski jumped for a header and appeared to pull Caleb Yirenkyi's hair in the penalty area. VAR reviewed both an alleged hair pull and a possible handball from Tarkowski on the same challenge — and cleared him of both offences.

A second contentious call arrived in the 49th minute, when Taiwo Awoniyi burst through on goal and went down under a challenge from Vitalii Mykolenko. VAR stepped in again and confirmed contact had been made — but ruled the incident had occurred just outside the penalty area, denying Coventry a spot kick.

The third incident was Barry's disputed second goal. With VAR unable to find a definitive camera angle proving a handball, Everton's lead was allowed to stand — sending the Hill Dickinson Stadium into delirium.

Table implications

The defeat leaves Coventry just two points above the Premier League relegation zone, with the possibility of dropping into the bottom three before the weekend is out. Everton, meanwhile, have climbed to fifth in the table — temporarily leapfrogging Liverpool in the process.

Barry's brace takes his tally to 10 Premier League goals for the season, underlining his status as one of the division's most dangerous forwards right now.