Everton 1 Liverpool 2: The postal strike lingered long in Liverpool yet a get-out-of-jail card still reached Rafael Benitez at Goodison Park.

Once the backlog has cleared, an invitation to appear before the Football Association could find its way to David Moyes. It is a challenge the Everton manager would defiantly accept.

The Scot's intention to refrain from referee assassination wilted as Mark Clattenburg's inept handling of the 206th Merseyside derby created incident in a football desert. Defeat at the feet of a player who should not have been on the pitch to convert the final blow and two suspensions are a heavy price for the official's performance. It is, though, an accurate summary of Everton grievance on an afternoon when Clattenburg courted accusations of enjoying an uncomfortable pal's act with Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher.

"They (Liverpool players) were always in there with him and maybe he wants to be friendly with them," said Moyes, whose mood will not be helped by the two pages in Gerrard's autobiography in which he eulogises Clattenburg and Graham Poll as "the best refs around . . . top drawer . . . never influenced by the occasion".

Moyes' ire began to be fuelled when Tony Hibbert invited a red card for pulling down Gerrard inside the penalty area for the derby's pivotal moment, a card that had initially appeared to be yellow. Of more genuine grievance was the subsequent failure to dismiss Dirk Kuyt for a two-footed lunge on Phil Neville and the unfathomable decision not to award the third clear spot-kick of the afternoon when Carragher dragged Joleon Lescott to the floor in the final act.

"That is as tough as I have ever had it from a referee, especially in a big game. Just incredible," added Moyes, who denied further evidence of officialdom's leniency towards the top four but could not help departing with the cynical: "Didn't he go to Asia with Liverpool for the Asian Cup this summer?"

Benitez played similar games with the referee's contribution, delivering his now obligatory barb at his local rivals to insist Lescott had somehow dived with a 12 stone Scouser pulling at his shoulders, but both managers had cause to thank Clattenburg for shifting the spotlight from themselves and their team's performance.

When Kuyt beat Tim Howard for the second time from the spot in the 93rd minute, Neville having handled the derby debutant Lucas Leiva's shot on the line to become the 16th player sent off in this Premier League fixture, the Liverpool manager was granted a cathartic release from the interrogation that would otherwise have followed into his tactics and designs on the title.

The Liverpool manager made a mockery of his "small club" description of Everton and the insistence that derbies are just another game by running across the pitch at the final whistle in a manner not seen since winning the European Cup in Istanbul.

Benitez took off Gerrard and persisted with the sloppy Mohamed Sissoko and the strangely subdued Javier Mascherano in another performance that cast doubt on Liverpool's bold ambitions for the season.

"The idea was clear," said Benitez, whose side trailed to a bizarre Sami Hyypia own-goal at the interval. "We had a player with passion when we needed to pass and control the ball. Stevie was disappointed with the decision and he wanted to play on. I tried to talk to him but it would be cleverer to analyse the reasons for the decision with him later."

Everton began with limited ambition against a Liverpool team low on self-belief and for whom the manic Carragher frequently courted a booking for dissent. An arm around the referee spared him one before he eventually collected yellow for a tussle with the substitute James McFadden.

With Phil Jagielka and Neville continuing their wooden double-act in central midfield, the initiative was offered to Liverpool but, after an encouraging start, they struggled to capitalise. Everton were comfortable until Hibbert hesitated as the visitors cleared a corner at the start of the second half and finally stopped Gerrard's advance with disastrous consequences for his side.

• Guardian Service