FOR the second time in a week, the pressure was on going into a match and questions asked whether we’ve got the bottle and ability to retain fourth spot – and for the second time in the week we’ve answered those questions emphatically.

While failure to claim the win here would have been a blow in terms of points on the board, the psychological blow would have been far greater in giving an advantage to our rivals across the park while staying in the reach of the other teams below us.

This was hardly plain sailing, but Everton demonstrated the ability yet again to adapt and change during the course of a game to put the opposition to the sword.

Moyes’s biggest criticism has traditionally been his tactical naivety and lack of foresight to change things round. The introduction of AJ and tactical switch when Portsmouth were starting to gain the upper hand, however, changed the game and showed how the manager is stepping up in his performance as well as the players are.

And then we have the Yak. Perhaps the biggest complement I could pay the Yak is that I could count his missed chances this season on one hand.

It’s not just his goals that are impressive, as in his past two games, the Yak has run four of the toughest centre halves in Dunne, Richards, Campbell and Distin ragged as well as scoring the goals once he has been fed.

While Liverpool’s game in hand may bring them level with us, the confidence is there in the Blue camp that we’ve got the momentum, quality and desire to better their results between now and the end of the season.