“The goal will help him he needed that. He got an ankle injury (against Burnley) and didn’t train all week before Friday. He’s gone out on the pitch and done it because we don’t have many more to pick from right now.

“We need some of them to go out whether 100% or not really.”

While the club’s horrific list of absentees shows little signing of abating, Moyes was at least boosted by a return to the starting line-up for the first time since September 13 for captain Phil Neville and James Vaughan’s first start in an Everton shirt for 15 months.

The pair combined for the opening goal with typical determination and application as Neville’s harrying of Adam Clayton forced the Carlisle midfielder into making his sloppy back pass which a razor sharp Vaughan intercepted to score from.

Moyes said: “James Vaughan was playing his first game for several months and the same for Phil Neville. We got them back but we’re still losing people. We’ve lost Ossie (Leon Osman) again but hopefully Sylvain (Distin) might not be too far away. That’s needed because really the two boys who are at centre-half are doing fine but I wouldn’t class both of them as centre-halves.

“I think we’ve had a really good balance (in midfield) with Felli (Marouane Fellaini) and Ossie but Phil coming back gives us leadership and inspiration that we badly need.

“We’ve had to ride a wee bit of a storm with the players we’ve had out – I think there were nine injured today, two on African Nations Cup duty and one suspended. To go through is a great thing so we’re trying to look at it positively.

“We got through. That was the job to do and we did it. To get 3-1 was a good result but it was a bit tough on Carlisle.”