THE stadium announcer may have been a tad premature, but the message eventually came booming out loud and clear.

With Everton toiling to overcome a stout Burnley rearguard midway through the second half, the pronouncement “all clear Operation Goodison Exercise” was relayed to the increasingly agitated Blue faithful.

By full-time, however, David Moyes’s side finally followed the script to sign off 2009 with an all-too-rare home victory.

Given the Tannoy declaration, it was apt that James Vaughan should provide the cure for Everton’s ailing home form, this their first win at Goodison since Blackburn Rovers were downed on September 20.

The striker has spent much of his career on the treatment table after announcing his arrival with a record-breaking debut against Crystal Palace in which he became both Everton’s and the Premier League’s youngest-ever goalscorer, a litany of injuries subsequently restricting the striker to just eight league starts in more than four years.

But for Vaughan’s most recent setback, a cartilage problem that required surgery in October, he would have been lining up on loan for Derby County at Newcastle United yesterday in the Coca-Cola Championship.

Instead, the fates transpired in Everton’s favour with the 21-year-old stepping off the bench to end Burnley’s stubborn resistance by sidefooting home seven minutes from time with practically his first touch.

His first goal since netting at AZ Alkmaar more than two years earlier, the mixture of joy and relief from the celebrating Vaughan was palpable.

It was matched by that of his team-mates, who made hard work of beating a Burnley team that had previously taken just one point from 27 on their Premier League travels this season.

Profligate after dominating the first half, Everton struggled to make their superiority count even after the visitors were reduced to 10 men with the sending-off of Stephen Jordan for a second bookable offence.

There was even an whiff of controversy surrounding Vaughan’s opener, with Burnley manager Owen Coyle claiming Yakubu was stood in an offside position in front of goalkeeper Brian Jensen.

Steven Pienaar’s well-crafted injury-time strike added a gloss to the final scoreline that was perhaps unfair given Burnley’s significant contribution to an absorbing encounter.

Not that Everton will care.