“THERE it is!” exclaimed an excited Evertonian as the packed train hurried its way past the impressive Wembley Stadium en route to London.

And on the way back home a few hours later, he and the thousands of other Blues that descended upon the capital had every reason to be similarly animated following a remarkable afternoon for David Moyes’s side.

Chelsea’s two-year grip on the FA Cup was wrenched away in the most dramatic fashion as Everton breathed new life into a flailing campaign while injecting much-needed belief into both themselves and their suffering supporters.

Less than six days earlier, the Goodison outfit delivered what their manager regarded as the worst performance of his nine-year reign when they slumped to a dismal loss at Bolton Wanderers.

Small wonder the 6,000-strong army travelled to Stamford Bridge more in hope than expectation.

The transformation was phenomenal.

While at the Reebok they were listless, lethargic and disinterested, here Everton were reinvigorated, revitalised and resilient.

Although Moyes spoke before the game that defeat at the weekend would not signal the end of his team’s season, it was clear from his celebration as skipper Phil Neville converted Everton’s decisive penalty what this victory meant.

He needed this win. The club needed this win. And the players needed this win.

With the failure to strengthen the squad during the January transfer window closely followed by an unsettling set of accounts and that Bolton debacle, unrest among the Goodison faithful has threatened to become an uprising.

Of course, one triumph, no matter how historic – this was Everton’s first defeat of Chelsea in the FA Cup in 55 years, their first win at Stamford Bridge since 1994 and their first away win in the competition against top-flight opposition in 21 years – isn’t going to address the shortcomings both on and off the field.

But, even if Everton had fallen short on Saturday, their pride was restored by an heroic performance the challenge of which will now be to transfer to a Premier League campaign where Moyes’s men hover too close to the relegation zone for comfort.

So continues a schizophrenic season, impressive against the leading lights but consistently stumbling against lesser opposition.