Murphy’s in the spotlight again as Josh sinks Everton and fires Norwich into the fourth round

Norwich City advanced into the Fourth Round of the EFL Cup on Tuesday evening as they pulled off a rare upset by defeating Everton 2-0 at Goodison Park. The victory marks City’s fourth in a row, and their fourth in eleven days and, following a disappointing couple of weeks, Alex Neil’s side are beginning to build some impressive momentum.

It would be a lie to say that expectations were high going into the trip to Merseyside. Everton have made a brilliant start to life under new boss Ronald Koeman, currently sitting 2nd in the Premier League, and by all accounts were set to take the League Cup seriously. On the contrary, Alex Neil has always treated cup competitions as more of a distraction rather than a priority and with this in mind - the prospect of a strong Everton team up against a second-string Norwich - only one result seemed likely.

6.45pm and the release of the team-sheets confirmed my fears as Everton’s eleven featured the first choice likes of Ross Barkley, Ashley Williams, Mark Stekelenburg and Seamus Coleman whilst Alex Neil made ten changes from the side that were victorious at Forest last Saturday. Considering the sheer amount of changes that were made, it surprised me just how strong our eleven was. The included likes of John Ruddy, Sebastien Bassong, Ryan Bennett, Youssouf Mulumbu, Steven Whittaker, Steven Naismith and Josh Murphy have all been starters in the not too distant past and each represent very strong reserve options. Some Norwich supporters made the claim that the second-string that lined up at Goodison were stronger than the majority of Championship first eleven’s; as bold a claim it may be, I find it difficult to disagree - especially after their display last night.

It was the perfect ‘lesser club traveling to big club away from home’ performance. It would be wrong to say that we took the game to Everton, but we did exactly what was required: we challenged Everton to break us down and it turned out to be a challenge that was beyond their reach. Somewhat miraculously, a defence containing Whittaker, Bassong and Bennett looked tremendously solid. Protected admirably by Mulumbu and the impressive Louis Thompson, the back four were relatively untroubled all evening despite the large Everton dominance. John Ruddy, returning to the line-up having been dropped in favour of Michael McGovern, appeared to be close to being back to his best whilst debutant Nelson Oliveira, alongside Steven Naismith, offered a useful outlet to utilise for when we rarely ventured into the Everton half. It was the attacking pair that combined for City’s opener (which, incidentally, was our first shot on target) as Naismith ran onto a neat Oliveira back-heel before somewhat fortuitously scooping the ball over Stekelenburg to give his side the lead in the 42nd minute. The assist was a moment of individual quality from City’s most recent addition and despite only playing 45 minutes he showed enough to suggest that he is going to be an important asset in the coming weeks.

Naismith’s strike, which had come totally against the run of play, gave City a shock lead going into the break and Norwich were now 45 minutes away from an upset. A half of wave after wave of relentless Everton pressure seemed inevitable and so it transpired. At times the game felt like a training session of defence versus attack but to the testament of our reserve back-line, they coped admirably. The introduction of big guns Yannick Bolasie and Kevin Mirallas did little to change things, and other than one moment when Gerard Deulofeu spooned over when well placed, clear-cut chances were kept to a premium. Ruddy was tested, in particular from a Mirallas free-kick and a long-range Idrissa Gueye effort, but he consistently proved a match.

With the defence holding firm, and it beginning to look like one goal would be enough to win it, Josh Murphy produced a moment of brilliance. Cutting in from the left and drifting past two players, the 21-year-old curled a delightful shot from 20 yards into the top right hand corner of Stekelenburg’s net. It was a moment of brilliance that only Josh and his twin Jacob are capable of - such brilliance that the pair are beginning to deliver on a weekly basis. As Alex Neil said in his post-match interview, “they are special and we need to enjoy them while they’re here.”

Having scored a second with little over ten minutes to play, victory now seemed likely. It wouldn’t have been beyond the realms of possibility for Norwich to throw away a two goal lead in the dying stages but thankfully it wasn’t to be as we held on to secure a mightily impressive 2-0 win.

Prior to the game I was disinterested in the League Cup but all of a sudden we are now propelled into the last sixteen and Wembley is looming in the far, far distance: a kind draw in the fourth round and you just never know. One thing I do know is that, regardless of what happens in the next round, every single Norwich fan can be tremendously proud of our performance last night, and for as long as we can keep a hold of the Murphy twins, the future is very, very bright.