IT was just like old times at the DW Stadium on Saturday. Here was Everton, proving obdurate and stubborn on a tricky afternoon on which even the officials seemed to be lining up in opposition.

Here was Tim Cahill, quiet for the most part but popping up on cue in the closing moments to earn his team an unlikely victory.

And here was David Moyes, revelling in another long unbeaten run while trying to play down the hopes and expectations of the jubilant travelling support.

If anyone still doubts whether Everton are returning to their recognisable selves, the weekend produced compelling evidence.

Their winter revival has slipped under the radar of many outside Merseyside, but it’s amazing what a forthcoming derby can do to focus the minds of the previously ambivalent.

Now, after the joys of January, the Goodison outfit face a frantic February that will effectively shape the remainder of their campaign.

While admitting European football is essential to match the ambitions of both himself and his players, Moyes has been at pains to maintain a realistic approach to securing qualification this season.

Everton’s disappointing, injury-hampered first half of the season has left them with plenty of ground to make up, even allowing for Saturday’s narrow win at Wigan Athletic that ensured they haven’t lost a Premier League game since entertaining Liverpool in late November.

This weekend’s Anfield return will be the first real test of Moyes’s reawakening side, before Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur provide further examinations later in the month.

Everton certainly won’t be short of confidence, having now won four of their last five top-flight games, each while keeping a cherished clean sheet that proved so elusive before Christmas.

And they possess a reinvigorated Cahill. After netting just twice before the New Year, the first serious doubts were being raised about the Australian’s effect in the Everton team.

Three goals inside a month have quelled such concerns. Having set Moyes’s side on their way to midweek victory over Sunderland, Cahill lived up to his manager’s tag of being the ‘Johnny on the spot’ by powering home a trademark header with six minutes remaining to give Everton a hard-earned success.

And hard-earned it was. Make no mistake, this was not a vintage performance from the Goodison outfit, coughing up possession too cheaply, spluttering going forward and outplayed in central midfield where Wigan youngster James McCarthy, a summer signing from Hamilton Academical making only his third Premier League start, was hugely impressive.

Indeed, Moyes was largely indebted to the shortcomings of Scotland for the three points. Jason Scotland, that is.

Twice the hapless Wigan striker found himself clear on goal in the first half, only to lose his composure and fire horribly over the crossbar into an unforgiving away support.

It was the kind of finishing that highlighted why Scotland has not yet scored in 20 Premier League appearances for the club, and should perhaps pursue a goal-kicking career with their rugby league bedfellows.

Scotland, though, wasn’t alone, Hugo Rodallega spurning an even earlier chance by striking straight at a grateful Tim Howard and then wasting one dangerous break after the interval by seemingly attempting to send his shot out of the stadium.