CHERRIES ran into an Everton machine on Merseyside and emerged from it shredded – some second-half resistance not enough to prevent Eddie Howe's side sinking to a 6-3 defeat.

The hosts tore Cherries to pieces before half-time, Romelu Lukaku opening the scoring in the first minute and on target again before the half-hour – six minutes after James McCarthy had scored Everton's second.

Joshua King scored twice after the break to give Cherries' hope; hope that was dashed by Lukaku's third and fourth goals of the day.

There was still time for Harry Arter to make it 5-3 – and further time still for Ross Barkley to bag a sixth for Everton.

Howe had implored his team to take the fight to their opponents from the off here.

At worst, Cherries would have been determined to prevent Everton, so formidable at home this term and entering this contest unbeaten in six Premier League games, from clicking into their groove early on.

Whatever, the visitors' plans were blown out of the water inside the opening minute.

Cherries, sloppy in possession – Tyrone Mings and Dan Gosling the culprits – allowed Morgan Schneiderlin to snaffle possession high up the pitch.

The Frenchman swiftly found Lukaku, who swapped passes with McCarthy – the midfielder supplying the return with a deft outside of the boot pass.

The build-up was good, then, the finish something else altogether,

Lukaku, cutting in from the right, unleashed a howitzer of a left-foot strike that fizzed inside Artur Boruc's right-hand post. Cherries' number one stood no chance. The clock read 31 seconds.

Set up with three at the back, a midfield flooded with bodies and designs on dominating possession, Cherries nevertheless saw little of the ball in the immediate aftermath of the opening goal – Everton's crisp, intricate passing everything Howe's team had wanted to impose on their hosts.

Ademola Lookman, the Toffees' £12million teenager, drew gasps from the sold out Goodison crowd with a nifty piece of footwork that eliminated Arter from the equation at the edge of Cherries' box.

The former Charlton player, however, thrashed his eventual shot past the far post.

Some encouragement for Cherries arrived on the occasion of Jack Wilshere finally receiving the ball in a dangerous area.

Collecting Andrew Surman's pass on the half-turn, as is his wont, Wilshere spied lone frontman King progressing in behind Ramiro Funes Mori.

The pass into King was pure Jack Wilshere, perfectly weighted and asking to be hit. King obliged, but found Ashley Williams blocking the ball's path to goal.

Any further cheer Howe's men would have gleaned from the way Marc Pugh effortlessly defeated Seamus Coleman on the left wing to deliver a cross headed clear by Leighton Baines, was soon replaced by the sense of foreboding that comes with falling two goals behind when the game is scarcely a quarter over.

Lukaku was the architect this time, the powerful Belgian using his pace and strength to bustle clear of Pugh and Tyrone Mings on the right byline.

The striker slipped the ball back for McCarthy, whose rather tame first effort came back to him off Steve Cook.

Adjusting his feet smartly, however, the Ireland international nonchalantly steered the rebound over the line.

Even Everton 'keeper Joel Robles making a hash of dealing with a Ryan Fraser corner could have resulted in the home team scoring again.

The ball was scrambled clear, Lukaku then storming forward on the counter, before playing in Williams on the right wing – yes, centre-half Ashley Williams... it was turning into that sort of day for Howe's men.

On this occasion Simon Francis came to the rescue, scampering across to take the ball off the Welshman's toe.

The Cherries skipper, though, was entirely culpable when his team surrendered a third goal.

Under little pressure on the right of defence, Francis directed a blind pass back towards his own goal.

He might have been trying to pick out Cook, but instead sent the ball straight to Lukaku's feet.

The Everton player gratefully accepted his gift, caressing his finish over the advancing Boruc and inside the 'keeper's left-hand post.

And, very quickly, it was very nearly four.

Wilshere, this time errant in possession, underhit a low cross field pass towards Pugh,

Coleman was swiftly on the scene, stealing the ball and sending a pass over the top for Lukaku.

Boruc, though, was the forward's equal this time, haring from his line to prevent Lukaku from bagging a first-half-hat-trick.

The Polish 'keeper then improvised to punch away Coleman's close range drive after the right-back's run into the box was located by Barry's quick free-kick from deep on the left.

Cherries did make a fist of taking something from an otherwise desperate opening half in its final minutes.

Wilshere's bobbling 25-yard strike, after he'd been teed up by Arter's free-kick, deflected off the sole of Schneiderlin's boot and wide.

And from Fraser's resultant corner, amid some optimistic handball appeals, Robles was forced into a diving save by Cook's strike, left-footed and dug out from underneath his feet.

Howe sent on Brad Smith and Jordon Ibe for the second period – and the manager initially saw his team belatedly warming to its task.

Wilshere had a shot diverted behind by Williams, Ibe's low delivery was hacked clear after the winger had executed a sharp one-two with Arter, while Arter himself tried his luck with a strike that flashed just high of goal.

Cherries' pressure had an effect akin to prodding a bear with a stick, however.

Barkley was allowed to latch onto McCarthy's return pass and drift forward unchallenged to unload a fierce strike that deflected wickedly up off the diving Cook and an inch past Boruc's right-hand post.

Boruc then had to be alert to pounce in front of Lukaku after a Mings slip, the 'keeper having little time to congratulate himself before he was called on to pouch McCarthy's volley – sent on goal after Arter had headed clear Barkley's right wing free-kick.

Nevertheless, those signs, directly after the restart, that Cherries had been stirring into life did not prove to be without foundation.

Wilshere, with time to lift his head, spotted King ghosting between Everton centre halves Funes Mori and Williams.

The Norwegian's control off his left thigh on Wilshere's pass placed him one-on-one with Robles. He did the rest immaculately, prodding right footed past the Spanish goalkeeper.

Toffees boss Ronald Koeman was apoplectic. Howe stood, arms crossed, dispassionate.

The Cherries boss soon had cause to become rather more animated, however.

First, there was a let-off of sorts. Wilshere was robbed by Gareth Barry, who found Barkley on the right to square for McCarthy.

Boruc's save from the Everton man's shot looped up and fell for Lookman, but the attacker hammered his effort into the side netting.

Cherries, though, were a different animal now.

Pugh played in King down the left for a shot that Robles turned round the far post.

And from the subsequent 70th minute corner, Cherries, apparently dead and buried until King's strike 11 minutes earlier, were right back in the contest.

Fraser and Ibe exchanged pass, with Fraser then doing the exact same thing with Surman.

The Scot finally crossed low, where he found King, a yard out, and netting his second of the afternoon,

Goodison Park, in party mood during the first-half, was suddenly infected with nerves. So too, a clutch of the home players.

Pugh twisted and turned before sending a shot off target from the left of the box, with Arter then denied by Robles' low save after the midfielder had bundled substitute Kevin Mirallas off the ball to advance and shoot.

Arter came even closer when Fraser's consequent corner was cleared to him.

His first shot hit a defensive body, his second was beaten away by Robles, diving to his right – and an increasingly significant factor in this game.

If another goal was coming, the prevailing feeling was it would be in Cherries' favour.

But, with Benik Afobe stripped and waiting to join the fray, Everton crushed any hopes of a visiting revival.

The exceptional Lukaku, fed by Schneiderlin, ushered Coleman in on the right.

Continuing his run into the box, Lukaku popped up at the back post and applied a terrific volleyed finish to Coleman's perfect delivery.

Not content with his treble, Lukaku soon added a fourth.

The star of the show in this instance was Barkley, the England international taking Lukaku's initial ball with his back to goal and executing an exquisite backheel that did for Cook and Mings - and, decisively, sent Lukaku in on goal again.

The outcome, despite Cook's best efforts to recover, was never in doubt.

And still that wasn't the end of it.

Admirably, Cherries kept going.

Arter drove into the box, collecting Afobe's pass to fire at goal. The ball hit Robles' chest, before taking another touch off Arter and clipping a post.

He then had the simplest of tasks to knock the ball into an empty net.

That moment gave Cherries enough incentive to keep pouring bodies forward.

So it was, then, that they were totally exposed deep into stoppage time when Funes Mori thumped the ball forward and found Barkley with a totally free run on goal.

The attacker rounded Boruc, racing miles from his box and, with an air of arrogance, raised his arms before rolling the ball home.

A crazy, crazy game of football. One in which Cherries at least displayed a touch of resilience.

That the entire coaching staff and every player felt it necessary to traipse across and thank the travelling support, however, probably tells the true story of a chastening afternoon.

That's 31 goals conceded in 12 Premier League games. Cherries are in a rut.

Everton (4-3-2-1): Robles; Coleman, Williams, Funes Mori, Baines; Barry (Holgate, 79), Schneiderlin, McCarthy (Davies, 61); Barkley, Lookman (Mirallas, 71); Lukaku

Unused subs: Jagielka, Gueye, Valencia, Stekelenburg (g/k).

Booked: Schneiderlin, Davies

Cherries (3-5-1-1): Boruc; Francis (B Smith, h-t), Cook, Mings; Fraser, Arter, Surman, Gosling (Ibe, h-t), Pugh (Afobe, 83); Wilshere; King.

Unused subs: Stanislas, Mousset, Cargill, Allsop (g/k).

Booked: Arter

Referee: Mike Jones (Cheshire).

Attendance: 39,026