IT wasn’t just the muscles that were being massaged at half-time in the home dressing room on Saturday. As a dizzied Everton attempted to clear their heads after being given the run-around by Manchester United during the first 45 minutes, long-serving backroom staff member Jimmy Comer could barely believe what he had seen.

“The masseur, who is a massive Blue, said to us this was not like a normal Everton-Man United game,” says skipper Phil Neville. “He said the crowd were quiet, the players were quiet, and in the second half we needed to lift it and show more energy.

“Sometimes it takes something like that to get people going. Because it was only 1-0 and we were still in the game, I think that gave us the springboard to say ‘sod it, let’s just go for it’, and that’s what we did.”

And how. Spurred by the unlikely rallying call Everton put together a sterling 45 minutes to snatch a richly-merited point against the European champions and maybe, just maybe, finally kickstart their spluttering season into belated life.

The number of false starts already this campaign means it would be unwise to become too carried away with this result. Everton still haven’t won at Goodison this season, and a lowest home league attendance against United in 15 years on Saturday was testament to those travails.

But given that United, the reigning Premier League and European champions, had won 12 of the previous 14 meetings between the teams and had scored 14 goals in their last five games without conceding, this was easily the most encouraging result of Everton’s season thus far.

Of course, it’s the job of the manager and team to persuade the stayaway fans to return; and if they can maintain the level of their second-half performance then Goodison will soon be regularly packed to the rafters once more.

As against Arsenal the previous week, and has been to often the case this season, it was the archetypal game of two halves. This time, though, Everton came stronger in the second 45 minutes than the first and ensured they gleaned deserved reward from an absorbing spectacle.