SUCH has been the continuing displeasure of David Moyes with his misfiring forwards this season that it was perhaps only a matter of time before the Everton manager lost patience with all of them.

But whether that day should have come with a visit to a struggling West Ham United is a question that will have occupied the travelling support as they embarked on the long journey north from Upton Park last night.

An opportunity to build on last week’s impressive victory at Manchester City was spurned as Moyes’s men once again failed to produce the cutting edge to go with their impressive approach play.

The forwards couldn’t be blamed here. In the most obvious sign yet of frustration with his strikeforce, Moyes left the trio of Yakubu, Jermaine Beckford and Louis Saha on the bench and instead asked leading scorer Tim Cahill to lead the line by himself.

Perhaps it was a shock tactic designed to encourage a much-needed response. But there was a nagging sense Moyes may have been cutting off his nose to spite his face, especially with the Goodison manager later admitting West Ham had been there for the taking.

Of course, the evidence this season suggests there is no guarantee Everton would have garnered all three points with a forward on the field.

But playing without a striker served only to stifle the visitors’ ambition against an opposing defence that has kept only two clean sheets this Premier League term.

Everton did find a way through three minutes before the interval when a fine passing move ended with Seamus Coleman netting his third goal for the club.

That was required to draw Moyes’s men level after the unfortunate Tony Hibbert put through his own goal on 16 minutes, the second season in succession the defender has scored past Tim Howard at Upton Park.