For David Moyes, it was a night that overflowed with indignities.
He can be sure now what Everton's supporters make of him after all that caustic chanting from the away end and there must be something deeply troubling from his perspective that Everton have finally reminded themselves what it is like to win at Manchester United's ground. Moyes, remember, never managed it as Everton manager, just like he never won at Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool. What he could not achieve in 46 league games, over his 11 years, his successor, Roberto Martínez, has managed at the first attempt.
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| Bryan Oviedo scores the only goal. |
It leaves Moyes's current team 12 points behind Arsenal and, while a club with United's history will never give up, the bottom line is that something drastically has to change if they are to stand any chance. Everton, without Moyes, have improved. United, with him, have deteriorated. Bryan Oviedo's late, dramatic winner did not flatter Martínez's team and Everton could joyously reflect on their first victory at this stadium since August 1992, in the opening weeks of the inaugural Premier League season, when Peter Beardsley, Robert Warzycha and Mo Johnston scored in a 3-0 win.
Moyes could reflect on the moment when Wayne Rooney's deflected shot hit the post, or the two chances in succession in the second half when Tim Howard saved brilliantly from Patrice Evra and Danny Welbeck headed the rebound against the crossbar. Yet Everton, bar one 10-minute spell, always played with the greater collective fluency.
Kevin Mirallas also struck the woodwork, direct from a free-kick, as the tempo increased in the last 20 minutes and the substitute Gerard Deulofeu really ought to have put them ahead before Oviedo arrived at the far post to turn in Lukaku's scuffed attempt. An already grim night for United might have been even more harrowing if the referee, Martin Atkinson, had taken action against Marouane Fellaini for embedding his studs in the back of James McCarthy's leg.
Rooney's fifth booking of the season, for flicking his elbow into Phil Jagielka's chest, did not carry any real malice but it means he will be suspended for Saturday's game at home to Newcastle.
Robin van Persie will probably not be there either, having missed the last four games with his groin injury and with Moyes admitting he did not know when the Dutchman would be back. Martínez spoke afterwards about using Everton's poor record at Old Trafford as a form of motivation.
"Today was more than a football game for us," he said. "It was about getting rid of a mental block, knowing we have not won at this stadium for many, many years." It has been a long, wretched run, but they had been distinguished enough for their manager to reflect they could "take on anyone now, eye to eye".
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