Reputations can deceive. Middlesbrough's Stewart Downing, hyped as the answer to England's left-wing problems, disappointed in front of Sven-Goran Eriksson and Everton's James Beattie, in the course of an alarmingly wooden performance, thoroughly belied his £6 million price tag.
Most misleading of all was the widespread assumption that Duncan Ferguson must have been guilty of attempting to stud Mark Schwarzer in the head when Middlesbrough's goalkeeper advanced on a loose ball he should have already smothered and which Ferguson's outstretched boot threatened to push beyond him.
Ferguson's image is less than angelic, but the presumption of his automatic guilt on the part of Bolo Zenden, who led Boro's charge into what turned into a bout of goalmouth argy-bargy, was highly unprofessional.
Ferguson did nothing illegal, even failing to make clear-cut contact with Schwarzer, and he seemed intent on scoring. But the normally mild-mannered Zenden attempted to throttle the Everton striker.
Perhaps mercifully for Zenden, the Scotsman was unable to respond because the majority of players had bundled into the goalmouth. With usually restrained characters such as Colin Cooper enthusiastically prolonging the melee - Ferguson did appear to swing an arm at the Boro defender but only in an attempt to escape his clutches - it took Dermot Gallagher a couple of minutes to restore order.
Presumably deciding that apportioning blame was near impossible, Gallagher simply spoke sternly to Gareth Southgate and Alan Stubbs, the two captains, and kept his cards in his pocket.
"I didn't see anything wrong with Duncan's actions," Everton's manager David Moyes insisted. "I would have expected all my players to challenge for that ball." An FA fine would seem appropriate sanction for what served as a shocking example but Boro's Steve McClaren affected an unintentionally comedic lack of concern.
"The melee showed why the two sides are in the top six," he said. "It was a great show of togetherness and sticking up for each other. Everyone was looking after their team-mates."
Boro may have been upset because Ferguson's first touch had just created the equaliser for Tim Cahill. Everton tend to be quite direct but they profited from a patient passing move involving Beattie, Marcus Bent and Tony Hibbert when Hibbert crossed on to Ferguson's head. His downward flick was met by the on-rushing Cahill who forced the ball past Schwarzer.
The point keeps Everton fourth. "We should have won," said Moyes, who dismissed suggestions that Thomas Gravesen's departure for Real Madrid would derail his team's Champions League ambitions. "We nearly always won games Tom didn't play in." Indeed with Joseph Yobo deployed between defence and midfield and Lee Carsley impressing, Everton cramped Boro's creativity.
They fell behind in the first half when Zenden met a pass from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. Richard Wright dashed out impulsively only to be bypassed by Zenden, whose looping left-foot strike was helped into the net by the back-pedalling Stubbs.
It was harsh luck on a visiting ensemble who in Kevin Kilbane and the more quietly impressive Carsley and Alessandro Pistone boasted three of the best players on view.
But Beattie was among the worst. Looking overweight and a good half-yard off the pace he was comfortably contained by the 38-year-old Cooper - introduced when Ugo Ehiogu hobbled off with first-half knee ligament damage - and spurned his sole chance when he struck a post from close range after meeting a fine cross from Kilbane.
Kilbane delighted in confounding those many critics who, during his time at Sunderland, very nearly destroyed his career and his confidence. So much so that those who came to hail Downing and Beattie departed singing the Irish winger's praises.
