WITH a man chaining himself to the Park End goalposts shortly after Everton FC signed a new striker, it wasn’t your average evening at Goodison.

But some things don’t change. And, when Manchester City hone into view, it simply brings out the best in David Moyes’s side.

With £5.5million signing Nikica Jelavic watching from the stands, Everton defied the odds to halt City’s title charge and breathe further new life into their campaign.

Inevitably, it was a former Manchester United player who struck to a blow to the title aspirations of Roberto Mancini’s men, Darron Gibson netting his first goal since moving to Goodison earlier this month.

So continues Everton’s remarkable record against City, having now won 11 of their last 16 meetings against the world’s richest club; clearly, money doesn’t always guarantee success.

Not a bad way for Moyes to register his 150th Premier League win in charge at Goodison.

The Everton manager had drawn criticism in some quarters for his cautious tactics during the defeat at Eastlands earlier in the campaign.

But last night both he and his players deserve only praise, most notably emergency centre-back Tony Hibbert and non-stop new fan favourite Denis Stracqualursi.

Given the hectic work behind the scenes to complete the Jelavic deal, it would have been easy for Everton minds to drift from the night’s job in hand.

City were in the midst of a run of 11 wins from their first 12 Premier League games when they eventually saw off an obdurate Everton 2-0 at Eastlands back in September.

However, their form has dipped significantly from those lofty standards since the turn of the year, losing at Sunderland in the top flight and knocked out of both the FA and Carling Cups.

This was Everton’s second successive game under the Goodison floodlights, having booked their place in the last 16 of the FA Cup by coming from behind to beat Fulham on Friday night.

Moyes made two changes from that team, Royston Drenthe coming in for Magaye Gueye on the left flank and the experienced head of Hibbert preferred at centre-back to the youthful Shane Duffy.

Hibbert has filled in at the heart of defence on occasion in the past, but it’s unlikely he has ever done so in the face of an attacking line-up as powerful as City’s that boasted all three of Edin Dzeko, Sergio Aguero and David Silva.

Both sides had their chances during a keenly-contested first half, with a goal threatened at either end in the sixth minute.