IF only it was Christmas every week.

They say it takes the course of a season for luck to even itself out in football, but Everton needed little more than half an hour to make the journey from anger to delight, as they secured a deserved point at the Stadium of Light.

Trailing to a deflected first-half strike from Sunderland substitute Jack Colback, David Moyes’s men were gifted a belated festive present as referee Howard Webb wrongly adjudged Lee Cattermole to have fouled Leon Osman in the area five minutes into the second half.

Leighton Baines’ clinical penalty conversion ensured the Toffees a place in the top half of the Premier League table heading into the New Year, and extended their unbeaten record against Sunderland to an incredible 15 matches. The result was a repeat of the sides’ last Boxing Day encounter, back in 2009.

Moyes made two changes from the side which had beaten Swansea City last time out, with neither Marouane Fellaini (stomach) nor Seamus Coleman (thigh) fit enough to take part.

It meant Sylvain Distin made his first Premier League start since October, partnering Phil Jagielka in defence as John Heitinga moved into midfield. Tim Cahill, so often the scourge of Sunderland in the past, also returned to the starting 11.

Cahill, Moyes had revealed last week, was “hurting” having reached the unwanted landmark of a year without a goal earlier this month. The Australian had lasted little more than an hour of the draw with Norwich City, before being benched for the visit of Swansea

It was he who had the game’s first real chance on six minutes, latching onto Tony Hibbert’s bouncing clearance to drill an angled shot that Sunderland goalkeeper Keiren Westwood kept out with his legs at the near post.

Tim Howard comfortably fielded a Titus Bramble header soon after, while at the other end Bramble was at full stretch to clear Leighton Baines’s dangerous ball, after the left-back had been freed by Royston Drenthe.

Cahill headed meekly wide from a Baines corner on 14 minutes, and Louis Saha would repeat the trick a minute later, timing his back post effort all wrong after being handed oceans of space by the home defence.

Sunderland had taken their time to get into the game, but fashioned their first real opening on 19 minutes. Stephane Sessegnon arrowed a delightful volleyed pass into the path of Nicklas Bendtner, but Tony Hibbert did superbly to ensure the Dane’s effort never troubled Howard. It was, however, a warning Everton failed to heed, as seven minutes later Colback, who had replaced a limping Bramble early on, opened the scoring.

The goal owed much to Sessegnon’s pace and trickery, as he jinked by a rather square Distin and laid the ball neatly to his left, where Colback’s first-time strike deflected off the luckless Distin and looped over Howard into the net.

Osman curled a left-footed snapshot over the bar, while Drenthe fizzed a 25-yard strike inches wide as Everton responded positively to the setback, without creating too much of note.

But while the half-time scoreline was a little harsh on the visitors, who contributed plenty to a well-contested opening period, they were handed a late Christmas present just five minutes after the restart, courtesy of a quite shocking penalty decision.

It came as Osman seized possession 30 yards from goal and burst into the box, the midfielder going to ground as he shaped to shoot on his left foot.