🔗 Share this article

David Moyes had stressed before the match against Fulham that the responsibility for finding the back of the net must not fall solely on the team's strikers. “I want more goals from my defenders and midfielders as well,” he insisted. Idrissa Gueye and the English defender duly obliged, earning a well-earned victory over the opposition's ineffective side.

The Merseyside club's second win in nine matches was fairly straightforward as the visitors demonstrated why their top marksman this season is opposition own goals. Apart from a brief flurry in the latter period, the away side were subdued all match by the home team's greater urgency and quality. Moyes’ team had three goals disallowed for infringements, but a poacher’s finish from Gueye in added time before the break and Keane’s second-half header made sure there would be no comeback for the former Everton manager.

No player was more in need of scoring more than the young striker, the Everton attacker who had gone 10 Premier League outings without testing the goalkeeper after his £27m summer arrival from the Spanish side and spurned a clear opportunity to put his team 2-0 up at the Stadium of Light on Monday. The 23-year-old directed the first opportunity of the game wide of Bernd Leno’s goal frame when found by Iliman Ndiaye’s excellent delivery.

Everton dominated the early exchanges and the Fulham goalkeeper tipped over the midfielder's long-range set-piece, awarded after Sasa Lukic was booked for fouling the Everton midfielder. Lukic brought down the identical opponent later in the half but the referee, Andrew Madley, correctly waved away home protests for a sending off. The Fulham boss was not risking anything, though, and substituted the midfielder at the break.

Barry thought his luck had finally turned when arriving at the back post to convert a low cross by Gueye. But the elation of a first Everton goal was erased by an assistant referee’s flag. Ndiaye was in an illegal position when attacking Gueye’s cross, and missing, and the video assistant referee supported the on-field decision. Barry’s misfortune may have continued in front of goal, but his overall display justified Moyes’ decision to stick with him. His runs and effort occupied the opposition's back line and helped give Everton the edge all game.

The Londoners grew into the game slowly with Sander Berge and the ex-Goodison player the Nigerian working well in midfield, but the first half threat from the visitors was limited. The Mexican striker shot tamely at the England keeper when set up in the box by his teammate and put a set-piece from a promising location straight into the Everton wall. And that was it.

Everton, inspired by Dewsbury-Hall and the forward, had a another strike disallowed for an infringement when the Fulham goalkeeper parried a Keane header and the captain volleyed in the rebound. The skipper had just strayed beyond the last defender when nodding down Jack Grealish’s delivery in the build-up. But Everton’s next effort beating the keeper did stand. Vitalii Mykolenko floated a lovely cross to the far post when found in space on the left flank by Tim Iroegbunam. The defender met it with a powerful nod off the crossbar and, though Iroegbunam fluffed his lines, his midfield partner the scorer finished from point-blank. The relief inside the ground was palpable.

Everton had a third goal disallowed early in the second half after the playmaker scored from another inviting Mykolenko cross. Ndiaye had laid off the delivery into the striker, who was offside when challenging the Fulham defender for the touch that fell to the home player. The team would have to be patient until the 81st minute for the security of a second goal. Dewsbury-Hall was the architect with a set-piece that Keane directed over Leno. He scored with the upper body, and Fulham’s appeals for a handball were dismissed by the video official.

Fulham posed more danger after the introductions of the forward, Rodrigo Muniz and the winger. The Everton keeper saved well with his legs to deny Muniz scoring with his initial involvement and denied the speedster with another important stop in the dying moments.