DAVID MOYES admits Everton got what they deserved after slumping to a dreadful home defeat against struggling Bolton Wanderers.

Despite being given the lead by goalkeeper Tim Howard’s incredible wind-assisted 90-yard punt, the Goodison outfit’s four-match unbeaten run shuddered to a halt with a 2-1 defeat last night.

David Ngog and Gary Cahill struck in the closing quarter to drag Bolton off the foot of the Premier League table in front of Everton’s lowest home attendance in more than a decade.

And Moyes, who saw both Phil Jagielka and Jack Rodwell limp off through injury, pulled no punches with his assessment of a lamentable performance in gale-force conditions.

“I have no qualms about the result,” said the Goodison manager. “We didn’t deserve to be in front and Bolton deserved to win the game.

“We cannot perform like that and expect to win. Conditions like that are never good to play in but two teams have to handle that, although I suppose it is a little easier to play in it away from home.

“Maybe the onus is on the home team to make the play but we couldn’t do that at all.”

Howard’s strike made him only the fourth goalkeeper to score a Premier League goal after Peter Schmeichel – at Goodison for Aston Villa – Paul Robinson and Brad Friedel.

The United States international made a point of refusing to overly-celebrate his effort, and said: “It is hard for the Bolton keeper Adam Bogdan.

“It’s not a nice place to be and it is embarrassing. I feel for him. I have been beaten by a goalkeeper before and it is quite awful.”

Moyes gave Landon Donovan a debut on his second loan stint from LA Galaxy, while Denis Stracqualursi was paired with Louis Saha in attack for his first Premier League start since his temporary switch from Argentine side Tigre last summer.

“If we hadn’t gone in with two centre forwards tonight, people might have questioned it,” said Moyes. “But that’s not the reason we lost. We just didn’t perform.

“Apart from our goalkeeper and bits of Landon, it was hard to see any positives.

“It was a freak that we were one-nil up but we would have taken it. But give Bolton credit – they worked hard for the result and we didn’t play anywhere near as well as we have been.

“Bolton stuck at it and deserved the points.”

Jagielka left Goodison on crutches after damaging his right leg making a block, while Rodwell pulled up only 19 minutes after replacing the centre-back having against aggravated a hamstring problem. Both will have their injuries assessed at Finch Farm tomorrow.

Bolton’s win was only their fifth of the campaign and moved them up to 18th place in the table.

And Trotters manager Owen Coyle was understandably delighted at the manner in which his team recovered from Howard’s opener.

“Young Adam Bogdan was terrific for us and he was in a good position, but we have seen a few times how the ball could gather pace,” said Coyle.

“Of course you start to think the bad luck we had in 2011 had carried over in 2012 but I thought we would come back because of the way we were playing and the way we did was a measure of our character and resilience. It would have been easy to feel sorry for ourselves.”

Gary Cahill’s winner came on what could be his last appearance for the club, with Chelsea having agreed a fee for the England international.

And Coyle added: “Cahill was magnificent. Quite apart from the football aspect, you have to admire his attitude when you have got a club of Chelsea’s stature after him.”