THE last time Everton visited White Hart Lane, David Moyes took a vow of silence. Yesterday, however, it was the entire away support left speechless.
For the second time in four days, the Goodison outfit were forced to contemplate another damaging blow to their season.
But while the fans who travelled to Portugal were flabbergasted by Thursday's surrender to Sporting Lisbon, this time they struggled to comprehend how their team contrived to gain nothing from an absorbing encounter with Tottenham Hotspur.
Not for the first time, only when Everton had fallen behind did they start beginning to play with the freedom and confidence that has proven the foundation of their New Year revival.
It worked against both Chelsea and Manchester United. But Moyes's men ultimately left themselves too great a task during a stirring second-half comeback yesterday.
Yet it could and should have been all so different.
Landon Donovan will surely have nightmares over his contender for miss of the season 13 minutes from time, but the blame cannot be laid solely on the shoulders of the American.
Poor defending, some questionable team selections and an inevitable European hangover had allowed Tottenham to wrest the initiative with first-half goals from Roman Pavlyuchenko and Luka Modric.
Everton fought back from two goals down when the sides met at Goodison in December and, despite a 55th-minute strike from Yakubu, their second-half efforts fell agonisingly short.
Moyes had refused to speak to the media after October's Carling Cup defeat at Tottenham in protest at a fixture schedule that saw his side play three important games in three different competitions inside six days.
Sadly, it is becoming increasingly likely there won't be such an issue next season, Everton now standing 10 points off a Europa League qualification berth, with any lingering hopes of a top-four finish having surely been extinguished.
So, a frantic February that would define Everton's campaign has ended with three home wins and three away defeats, and both good and bad news from the treatment room. A mixed outcome for a mixed season.
Moyes had sought to stave off the after-effects of their European endeavours by making five changes from the team that succumbed in Portugal.
Victor Anichebe, making his first start after suffering serious injury at Newcastle United more than a year ago, began on the right of midfield with Everton employing a 4-5-1 formation. It was an experiment that didn't really work, the Nigerian a peripheral figure.
But he wasn't alone during a first half in which, despite ostensibly having more numbers in midfield, Everton were too often overrun in the engine room, the defence too often exposed to the runs of Modric, Tom Huddlestone, Gareth Bale and Jermain Defoe.
Matters improved after the break when John Heitinga was pushed forward to provide greater cover for a back four which was bolstered from the bench by Phil Jagielka's first Premier League appearance since last April.
The absence of Heitinga and Sylvain Distin through suspension and ineligibility respectively was keenly felt at the heart of defence in Lisbon, but the pair were at fault for Tottenham's opener on 11 minutes.
A long ball forward from Tom Huddlestone gave Defoe something to chase down the inside right channel, but rather than close down the striker Heitinga instead backtracked towards goalkeeper Tim Howard.
