FIRST thing’s first – congratulations to Jermaine Beckford for finally breaking his Premier League duck.

The muttered phrase ‘he must be due one’ every time he makes his entrance was beginning to feel like a morbid joke, but on Wednesday night he did exactly what he was bought for, conjuring up a magnificent goal from almost nothing and rescuing a point for the Blues.

In all honesty, it also earned David Moyes and the rest of the players a reprieve too, as the Goodison crowd were in the process of clearing their airways in preparation for a titanic bout of booing when Beckford’s shot came arcing out of the night sky and into the top corner of the Gwladys Street net.

There’s nothing fickle or disingenuous about desperation turning into elation and a late equaliser papering over the cracks to a certain extent – the fans pay their money to be entertained after all, and despite dropping four points and the re-emergence of some familiar failings, there’s no doubt that these last two games have provided more action and drama than a mob of angry students.