Everyone has a taste for heroes at Christmas

THE first Everton player David Moyes grabbed after the final whistle was Jake O'Brien.

- By JOE THOMAS

Having walked onto the pitch he found his defender in the centre circle and embraced him.

After peeling James Garner away from discussions with Morgan Gibbs-White to share a moment with his star man, he and captain James Tarkowski sandwiched Tyler Dibling and escorted him to the away end to receive the adulation of the travelling fanbase.

In the post-match press conference, Moyes highlighted the performances of Nathan Patterson and Merlin Rohl unprompted, using his platform to spread the praise across his team in public.

The win at Nottingham Forest was not Everton's best, most important or most enjoyable of 2025.

The ninth away win of the calendar year, it has strong competition from memorable nights in Manchester, Bournemouth, Brighton and elsewhere.

But it was a fine achievement given the parlous state of the Everton squad.

In some ways, success in this war of attrition was more satisfying than many of those nine.

The sunshine and celebrations in west London, Newcastle and Wolverhampton were wonderful but this was gutsy.

When I spoke with Moyes after the game he was struggling to contain his pleasure.

I spoke with Sean Dyche too, and for all the frustration he had with his own players I sensed a pang of respect and perhaps even pride that the stubbornness that underpinned the Blues’ victory had its roots in the defensive resilience he built his Everton tenure around.

That would be fair, of course Moyes has often passed credit onto his predecessor for the defence he inherited.

In relation to Tuesday night's win, however, Nathan Patterson and Jake O’Brien may be forgiven for some bemusement given Dyche’s reluctance to use either even when those ahead of them were carrying injuries.