Jake O'Brien an unused sub as Everton rout Andrew Moran's Preston in Carabao Cup

O'Brien's lack of minutes will add to the growing speculation that he could be about to move clubs before the transfer window closes

ON THE MOVE?: Jake O'Brien was an unused substitute as Everton hammered Preston. Pic: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Preston 0 Everton 4

Striker Thierno Barry looks like he might be starting to find his feet at Everton as he scored his first hat-trick for the club in the 4-0 Carabao Cup win at Preston.

Having opened his account at the weekend this was just the third occasion he had found the net in back-to-back games, capping his performance with an assist for new signing Brennan Johnson to score his first goal in 35 games.

It took Barry until January 18 to reach four goals in a maiden season in which he struggled to adjust to English football but his early form offers manager David Moyes – returning to the club where he was player and manager – hope he has one fewer problem to address.

Jake O'Brien was an unused substitute, adding to the growing speculation that he could be about to move clubs before the transfer window closes while fellow Republic of Ireland international Andrew Moran played the full match for Preston.

Moyes still does not have a recognised right-back, midfielder Merlin Rohl deputised again, while his Tyler Dibling conundrum shows no signs of rectifying itself.

The winger joined in the same window as Barry but while the 23-year-old centre-forward has shown signs of progress the former Southampton man’s career has stalled.

Everton’s £40million deal looked something of a punt on his future potential but there was little evidence of that in his first season, playing just 513 minutes with the last of his six starts coming in January.

There is still time for his signing to look like canny foresight, especially considering some of the fees paid in this window, but Dibling will be 21 in February and needs to start taking his opportunities.

But if not against a Championship side who have lost their opening two league games and have not kept a clean sheet for 19 matches, then it is difficult to see when.

An early run was comfortably halted by Lewis Gibson, his first weak shot was straight at goalkeeper Lee Nicholls and his second ballooned into the Alan Kelly Town End.

Another chance was blocked and he threw his arms up in the air, before he finally found a spark in the 45th minute and drifted over the left and fired in a low shot to force a good save from Nicholls.

His cause was not helped by the more experienced Johnson’s arrival at his expense in the 64th minute, providing the assist for Barry’s hat-trick before scoring himself.

Barry’s first was a simple close-range finish after Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s ball over the top picked out Vitalii Mykolenko, before he reacted quickest to Dewsbury-Hall’s 59th-minute rebounded shot.

Johnson’s low cross provided another tap-in for Barry, who then slid in Johnson for the fourth.

Substitute Callum Lang had the host’s best chance with the score at 2-0, his overhead kick batted away by Jordan Pickford.