Tyler Dibling took his chance to shine as Everton edged out Wolves 1-0 to take their place in round four of the EFL Cup.

That is the view of David Moyes' assistant Alan Irvine, who was delighted by Dibling's display at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Dibling, a £34m signing from Southampton last year, struggled to make an impact in his first season at Everton.

He made just six starts and featured for only 513 minutes across all competitions, and despite some promising showings in pre-season, Dibling has also had to bide his time this term. He is yet to feature in the Premier League, with his only appearance prior to Wednesday's clash with Wolves coming at Preston North End in the EFL Cup second round.

Yet against Wolves, he was Everton's standout performer, playing the full match and leading the way for dribbles attempted (four), dribbles completed (three), duels contested (15) and duels won (nine). 

With a whopping 86.6% of the vote, your Player of the Match is Tyler Dibling! pic.twitter.com/RqKS5jtMPg

— Everton (@Everton) September 16, 2026

Dibling created two chances, including assisting Carlos Alcaraz's winner, while he had earlier pleased the home crowd with a brilliant recovery tackle to prevent a Wolves breakaway, moments after he had slipped in Brennan Johnson for a great opportunity at the other end.

And Irvine is thrilled for the youngster. He told reporters: "Since he came back for pre-season, he's looked like he belongs here – he's looked more comfortable. He's a very quiet lad, Tyler, and it can sometimes take quiet, young lads quite a bit of time to settle in, especially at a club like this with the expectations that are here.

"That was probably difficult for him last year, but he's come back looking much more comfortable in the environment and able to play for a club of this size.

"He's been training really well, waiting for his opportunity, and I said to him before the game, 'You've been waiting patiently – or impatiently – you've now got your chance. You've been disappointed that you haven't been in the starting XI until now but now you must take that opportunity'.

"You don't get loads of opportunities; you have to grab them when you get them and make sure that the manager's got a tough decision to make for the next game, and he's done that, which I'm really pleased about.

"He has got so much talent, he's capable of going past people, on the outside – not many wingers go on the outside nowadays. He and Tyrique George are both capable of that.

"That was great to see him going on the outside a couple of times, because that opened up opportunities to open up, and if you don't open up that space by threatening outside, it probably won't happen."

Charly's match-winning moment from pitchside! pic.twitter.com/UOFhiXsnXz

— Everton (@Everton) September 16, 2026

Everton, who will host Newcastle United in the last 16, had the better of the chances against their second-tier opponents, who knocked them out of the EFL Cup at the same stage last season.

Thierno Barry was thwarted by former Everton goalkeeper Joao Virginia, who impressed for Wolves and also denied Johnson prior to substitute Alcaraz coolly finishing in the 80th minute.

"Thrilled for Charly, he trains well every day – he's massively disappointed when he's not in the team, as you'd want players to be," Irvine said of Alcaraz. "He's got the goal, everybody's delighted for him."