THEIR career paths may be markedly different and their playing styles similarly diverse. But both Yakubu and James Vaughan gave evidence on Saturday they are now heading in the right direction.

The lingering doubts over the long-term future of either player at Goodison that have gradually started to disperse are fast evaporating altogether as Everton notched another significant landmark at the weekend.

Eyebrows raised at Yakubu’s club record £11.25million signing from Middlesbrough refused to descend as the Nigeria international tottered unconvincingly through the first steps at his new home, the striker’s laidback manner at odds with the strong work ethic instilled in David Moyes’s side.

However, throughout his career Yakubu has guaranteed that most precious football commodity – goals. And as the 24-year-old begins to grasp life at Goodison, so Everton are now understanding how to ensure the best from their latest acquisition.

Yakubu’s cool finish at Derby County last weekend was followed by another clever strike on Saturday, his first in front of a Goodison faithful that is slowly being won over by the powerful forward.

It sent Everton on their way to an ultimately deserved if unnecessarily difficult three points over Birmingham City at the weekend, a fourth successive win inside nine days for Moyes’s side.

Vaughan hadn’t even started school the last time Everton had achieved such a sequence of victories back in 1991, a remarkable statistic that, as Moyes pointed out after the game, perhaps explains why only one piece of silverware has made its way to the Goodison trophy room during the past 20 years.

Since becoming his club’s and the Premier League’s youngest-ever goalscorer on his debut against Crystal Palace in April 2005, Vaughan’s development has been stifled by a stream of injury problems that would be enough to finish off many a player, least of all one still a teenager.

But the pace, enthusiasm and bravery that caught the eye during that first outing remain, now joined by a steely determination and character strengthened by those lengthy spells on the sidelines.

Vaughan’s late cameo as substitute on Saturday, which followed his comeback from the bench in the Carling Cup win at Luton Town in midweek, was only his 19th appearance since his debut.

Small wonder, then, that the voracious youngster is desperate to make up for lost time.

His injury-time goal not only secured the win for Everton, but justified the faith of everyone at the club who believe the striker has the raw materials to become a major success.

“He is going to be a good player for us,” says Moyes.

“It might take a month to get the rustiness off him, but if he comes on and does what he did against Birmingham it will be great.

“He needs games and he is a big asset for Everton.

“He won't shirk anything, he will work as hard as he can, he won't be intimidated, he will battle with the best when he has to. He will give us a different option to the other strikers.

“James has been used to the injuries, unfortunately. He does get down, but he is a very conscientious boy.

“But he wants it so badly. His attitude is infectious. He works hard and he has that in abundance. There are things he is missing and because he has missed a good chunk of his early development in terms of technical stuff he has work still to do, I think he is good enough to force his way and stay in.

“You want to see people in this day and age so desperate to play and he is a bit of a throwback. There won't be many centre-halves who will look forward to play against James Vaughan when we get him in the condition he should be in.”

Yet despite the contribution of Everton’s new and young on Saturday, it was the intervention of a Goodison veteran that wrested back the initiative of a game that was somehow slipping away from the home team following Olivier Kapo’s 80th-minute equaliser.

Lee Carsley will never command the headlines of Yakubu and Vaughan, but his understated, efficient and effective performances in the centre of midfield have underpinned much of Everton’s success under Moyes, allowing his more celebrated team-mates to weave their magic.

However, every so often the Republic of Ireland international sprinkles some of his own stardust on the occasion, which on Saturday arrived in the form of a 20-yard injury-time thunderbolt that flew beyond Birmingham goalkeeper Maik Taylor after Liam Ridgewell had failed to properly clear Mikel Arteta’s right-wing corner.

For good measure, it was Carsley who moments later headed the ball astutely into space behind the Birmingham defence to allow Vaughan the chance to race clear and finish clinically.

Carsley had been in and out of the starting line-up during the first two months of the season but it’s telling that the midfielder has appeared in every minute of Everton’s four -game winning streak. Another intermittent starter, Phil Jagielka, emerged from the bench after only 22 minutes as a replacement for the injured Alan Stubbs and subsequently posted the best display of his Everton career to date at centre-back.

It demonstrated the strength in depth at Moyes’s disposal, a situation which will only improve once the likes of Vaughan, Tim Cahill – who will have benefited from another 90 minutes on Saturday – and Andrew Johnson reach full fitness.

Going into the game with confidence soaring after six wins from their previous eight games, Everton started brightly on Saturday and were ahead on 10 minutes when Steven Pienaar exchanged passes with Arteta on the right of the Birmingham area and fed Yakubu, who clipped the ball first time over Taylor.

Kapo solicited a good save from Tim Howard shortly afterwards, but the remainder of the first half was all Everton, Cahill heading over and shooting wide, Carsley striking at Taylor and the Birmingham keeper smothering from Yakubu.

After the break, Yakubu shot across the face and Carsley struck a dipping volley, but Everton started to lose their way as Birmingham stemmed the tide and began threatening an equaliser which arrived 10 minutes from time when substitute Gary McSheffrey’s right-wing corner was headed in by Kapo off the unfortunate Phil Neville.

When, with six minutes, Johan Djourou blocked a goalbound Vaughan shot after another flowing move involving Yakubu and the lively Pienaar, it appeared Everton would have to settle for a point.

But, in a reversal of their last league game at Goodison, Moyes’s side made the most of four minutes of injury time to extend their winning run.

And like Yakubu and Vaughan, Everton continue heading in the right direction.