While the Toffees should really have had this game wrapped up by half-time, the eventual difference arrived when two of Moyes’ substitutes combined on the edge of the area.
John Heitinga’s pass to Bilyaletdinov with less than sixty seconds on the clock came shortly after the Dutchman had sent an inviting cross dipping into the six-yard box.
The fact that Moyes can bring this kind of quality off the bench – and in the absence of the injured Tim Cahill, Phil Neville and Marouane Fellaini to boot – bodes well for the future.
What doesn’t is the profligacy in front of goal that was on show in the first half.
The Everton manager has earmarked another striker among his summer targets. He will have seen little here to persuade him otherwise.
With Portsmouth content to sit back and invite Everton on to them, they were there for the taking.
The Toffees failed to capitalise, though.
First, an unmarked Louis Saha headed over from Leighton Baines’ whipped cross inside the opening five minutes, before Mikel Arteta aimed a shot straight at Jamie Ashdown from 10 yards when placing it either side of the stand-in goalkeeper would have produce the desired effect.
As Portsmouth retreated deeper, Leon Osman, Steven Pienaar and Arteta were able to pass at will between them ahead of the visitors’ 18-yard line.
Getting any further proved a problem however.
With Frederic Piquionne operating as a lone striker, Pompey effectively played with 10 men behind the ball.
It was a strange policy given they had nothing to lose. It was stranger still if you assume there are places up for grabs in next week’s FA Cup final.
Use this strategy against newly crowned Premier League champions Chelsea at Wembley and they will be ripped to shreds.
But, as Jack Rodwell, Tony Hibbert and Victor Anichebe all squandered chances to break the deadlock before the break, Portsmouth almost got away with it yesterday.
They will argue they should have had at least a point when Anthony Vanden Borre’s second half goal was incorrectly ruled out for offside. Replays showed he was played on by both Howard and Sylvain Distin.
Given their lack of adventure, though, it would have been an injustice had they taken anything from the game.
Prior to that, the only time Howard had been called into action was to save at the feet of Piquionne after the Frenchman latched on to a hopeful ball forward and skipped away from Phil Jagielka.
Substitute Jamie O’Hara saw a late effort fly past Howard’s upright. Other than that, the most compelling action from Pompey came from the visiting fans’ section where a spontaneous star jump session was prompted by the PA announcer's call for ‘operation Goodison exercise’ to commence.
With time ticking down, it appeared as though that would be the highlight of a disappointing afternoon.
Instead, the lasting memory of an otherwise forgettable affair was eventually delivered from Russia with love .
Man of the Match: Tony Hibbert – combined his defensive and attacking duties well to provide a regular outlet on the right. Delivered some decent crosses and was also an unlikely goal threat at times.
Everton Howard; Hibbert, Jagielka, Distin, Baines, Anichebe (Bilyaltedinov 65), Pienaar, Arteta (Heitinga 83), Osman Rodwell (Yakubu), Saha. Subs not used: Turner, Senderos, Bilyaletdinov, Baxter, Yakubu.
Portsmouth: Ashdown, Finnan, Rocha, Mokoena (Ben Haim 65), Boateng, Boupa Diop, Vanden Borre, Wilson (O’Hara 45), Utaka, Piquionne (Basinas 78): Subs: O’Brien, Smith, Ritchie
Goal: Bilyaletdinov 90
Att: 38,730
Ref: Peter Walton (Northamptonshire)
