HAVING scored a fine goal, provided an intelligent assist and ran the opposing defence ragged during an impressive first-half display, Jermaine Beckford might have expected a warm slap on the back from his manager at Wolverhampton Wanderers last Saturday.

Instead, the striker got the hook and a very public dressing down from David Moyes at Molineux.

If ever there was an indication of the high standards expected of an Everton player, it came during the immediate fallout of Beckford’s 74th-minute substitution.

Instilling a Premier League mindset into a player who, before his free transfer to Goodison from Leeds United last summer, had only previously played 10 games at Championship level has taken time.

But while Moyes accepts there has been some give and take with Beckford, he believes the striker has all the attributes to become a top-class striker – if he really wants to be.

“We’ve had to make allowances for him a little bit,” says the Everton manager. “If I had paid £10m I might have been more worried. But I’m not. We both knew when he signed that we were both taking a chance.

“If he wants it, he can really step up to the Premier League. He has the ability. But now it’s a lot to do with his desire.

“He maybe has to come out of that comfort he has been in. He knows he has gone to Leeds and scored, he’s gone to Scunthorpe and scored.

“But when you step up to one of the top clubs in the country and are playing against international defenders, although you might score you need to keep stepping up and stepping up.

“You have to do it for the team. You can’t just score the goal and think ‘that’s me, I’m done’. At Everton we require more than that.