Joey Barton hails Fleetwood fightback in 'great learning lesson' against Everton

Joey Barton and his Everton counterpart Carlo Ancelotti watch Glenn Whelan on the ball in Wednesday's Carabao Cup tie

Fleetwood boss Joey Barton saluted his young guns after they gave Premier League Everton a mighty run for their money in the Carabao Cup at Highbury.

Courageous Town not starstruck in 5-2 defeat by Everton

Having reached the third round stage for the first time ever, Town were two goals behind and right up against it at half-time against Carlo Ancelotti's very strong Everton side.

The hosts did grab two goals of their own during a stirring second-half effort, twice cutting the deficit to a single goal, but it wasn't enough as the Toffees wrapped up what Barton saw as a "flattering" 5-2 victory.

Lifelong Evertonian Barton said: "I challenged the lads at half-time. I told them I thought they'd been a bit too respectful of them.

"They picked a strong side. They are good players and if you let them play they will show you what they can do.

"I told the lads they weren't just here to swap jerseys at the end. We were in a cup tie and we needed to get out there, rattle a few cages and get amongst them.

"We made a tactical switch, enabling us to press them more, and to be fair to the lads they got themselves back in it.

"You don't get punished like this in League One games, though. Against Premier League opposition, full of international players, one false move can cost you.

"The lads were superb in the second half, though. We made a game of it and in the end probably 5-2 flattered them.

"It was a great learning lesson and all of the young lads acquitted themselves really well at times. We'll definitely be better for the experience."

Given Everton's stellar starting line-up - which featured Jordan Pickford, Michael Keane, Fabian Delph, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison - it was no surprise to see them dominate the opening 45 minutes.

Super-sharp Richarlison notched two crisp strikes, while Alex Iwobi thumped the crossbar and a host of other opportunities went begging. At the other end England keeper Pickford wasn't tested once.

Town sub Mark Duffy and Iwobi exchanged goals early in the second period before Callum Camps' breathtaking overhead kick pulled it back to 3-2 and the Toffees finally looked rattled.

However, two late goals from Bernard and sub Moise Kean sealed Everton's progress to face West Ham next week.