Woods, not surprisingly, has taken great satisfaction from seeing Howard develop but there is little doubting that he believes there is going to be better to come.

“His game has improved and it’s all about consistency,” said Woods, whose own playing career yielded 43 England caps and a European Cup winners’ medal. “It’s about making those saves when you are called upon; that’s what he strives for all the time.

“The key to a good goalkeeper is when you don’t notice them; you need to be able to do the bread and butter stuff with not too much fuss. That’s what you look for, a clean game when you don’t make many mistakes. When he’s called upon, he produces.”

The problem – if that’s what you could call it – about having a consistent goalkeeper is that it means there will be one, or possibly two, individuals waiting on the sidelines, wondering if they will ever get a chance to shine.

Richard Wright moved on after a year working with Howard, while Iain Turner and John Ruddy have not yet come close to making the breakthrough, meaning spells away from the club on loan again are pretty much guaranteed next season.

That leaves Carlo Nash, a lifelong Evertonian who would do anything to play just for a moment or two in a game that really matters at Goodison Park, to shadow Howard, as he has done since joining the club on transfer deadline day last August.

Opportunity, however, can knock when it is least expected and if, for some reason, Howard ever faced a spell out of the team, Woods is in no doubt that Nash – who has been excellent in practice all week – would prove himself to be a more than able deputy.

“It says an awful lot about Nashy that he trains so well,” Woods enthused.

“He gets himself ready and if anything happened to Tim, he’s not one of those people who you would be worried about coming into the team.

“He does lots in training to keep himself focused and he wants to do even more.

“He’s a great lad to have around the place, he works his socks off just as much as any of the other goalkeepers and doesn’t let anyone down.”

A recurring theme among the players here this week has been the determination to put right the wrong of Wembley but those feelings are not just confined to the dressing room; Woods makes it quite clear that the coaching staff all feel the same way.

“It’s always good to get back after a break,” said the man who joined Everton in 1998. “Though there is nothing we can do when the lads go out on the pitch, we feel everything the same as them. We are all in it together and we want to win things.

“We were disappointed that we didn’t win the Cup final but now that we are back here, everyone is determined and you can see that everyone wants to carry on from what they achieved last season.”