SELLING your team’s best players is never nice for fans or managers – just ask Portsmouth – but coming back stronger in the face of adversity has become one of Everton’s greatest habits under David Moyes.

Unlike the summer fire sale at Fratton Park which saw Glen Johnson, Peter Crouch, Niko Kranjcar, Sol Campbell and of course Sylvain Distin all scrambling for the exit door, several years of prudent team-building at Goodison ensured that when Moyes did decide to part with one of his prized assets – and only then on his terms because he felt the player’s attitude was having a detrimental affect on the squad – his team has come back more determined than ever.

Everton’s fourth consecutive win and fourth consecutive clean sheet in the space of 10 days was wrapped up by Louis Saha in the first half at Fratton Park but Goodison revivals can be traced back much further than Saturday.

Five years ago, following Wayne Rooney’s defection to Manchester United, Everton, boosted by a great togetherness and a few new faces recorded their highest ever Premier League finish.

The void up front also helped to cultivate the 4-4-1-1 formation which has served the club so effectively during Moyes’s reign.

Even last season when cruel injuries denied Everton the use of a recognised striker for prolonged periods of the campaign, the troops dug deep and made it to their first cup final in 14 years, never complaining about the cruel hand that fate had dealt them.

And now, as the dust settles on the aftermath of Joleon Lescott’s departure to Manchester City, it looks yet again that a new, even stronger Everton could be emerging.

Despite Lescott’s undoubted talents – three mostly superb years of service at Goodison before he unfortunately blotted his copybook – many observers struggled to work out just how, following consecutive fifth place finishes, Everton could improve this term.

Before the England international’s departure there had been no major arrivals all summer but boosted by the funds generated from his sale, Moyes has been able to draft in a direct replacement who is also an experienced Premier League performer in Distin, two experienced internationals in Russia’s Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and John Heitinga of the Netherlands – with the latter capable of playing in at least three positions – and even another seasoned campaigner from English football’s top flight in Lucas Neill outside of the transfer window after another major setback due to captain Phil Neville’s injury.

After years of having to make do and mend, Moyes suddenly has options and even considerable rotation of the squad has become a fairly seamless transition.

Places are up for grabs, players are hungry for the jersey and the likes of Ayegbeni Yakubu and Neill can be gradually eased back to fitness rather than pushed in at the deep end.

Compare this to the shambles at Portsmouth. The mass exodus over the close season left the club with barely 16 senior professionals on the playing staff at the start of the campaign and while Paul Hart’s men are playing with a lot of heart, the lack of quality amongst their ragtag bunch of journeymen and has-beens is showing in the Premier League table.

Such has been the rapid turnover of personnel in the Pompey side that players could be forgiven for not even knowing certain team-mates’ names.

For most of a cagey first half, both sides were restricted to half-chances rather than clear-cut opportunities but Tim Cahill almost broke the deadlock in spectacular fashion with a speculative volley from over 30 yards out only for home keeper David James to gather the ball at the second attempt.

At the other end, on-loan Ivorian frontman Aruna Dindane, who netted on his debut during the midweek in the Carling Cup victory at Carlisle, looked Portsmouth’s most potent threat and flashed a shot across goal from the inside left position after going past John Heitinga.

He was then denied down the middle after shrugging off former Pompey skipper Sylvain Distin – roundly booed on his return to Fratton Park less than a month after departing – as Tim Howard parried away his powerfully-struck effort.