Goodison glee as Ball hits net

Michael goal scored by Everton at Goodison all season, allowed Walter Smith's side temporary respite from a possible descent into a relegation battle and left Ruud Gullit's Newcastle United looking nervously over their shoulders.

They will still see Everton and a few others there, but that is small consolation. This was as bad a Newcastle display as there has been under Gullit and he clearly requires that transfer money more urgently than at any time in his three months in charge.

Given the under-confidence in both camps, the early stages were scrappy with no one in either midfield capable of directing play and both defences looking edgy. It seemed certain that any breakthrough would come as the result of a defender's mistake.

Sure enough, Newcastle's leftback Carl Serrant supplied it, lunging at Don Hutchison inside the area near the byline when all that was needed was cautious shepherding. Hutchison went to ground, Serrant was booked and Ball drilled in the penalty kick in the 18th minute with calm assurance.

Newcastle's reaction was tame intellectually and emotionally, Everton's meagre. But the lifting of their spirits was sufficient for them to assume territorial superiority.

Just past the half-hour Ibrahima Bakayoko went close twice. First he turned Laurent Charvet easily and forced an impressive block from Shay Given, then he flicked a Hutchison chip deftly but narrowly wide of Given's right-hand post.

Not until the 56th minute did Newcastle mount anything to resemble a similar threat, then Keith Gillespie skinned Ball and delivered a tempting cross, only for Richard Dunne to clear it without goalkeeper Thomas Myhre being needed.

Sixteen minutes from the end Myhre at last made a save. It came from Dietmar Hamann's freekick, the German having belatedly replaced Warren Barton, but Myhre was able to smother the deflected shot.

Everton: Myhre, Ball, Watson, Unsworth, Collins, Hutchison, Short, Grant, Bakayoko (Milligan 88), Dunne, Cadamarteri (Jeffers 90). Subs Not Used: Simonsen, Cleland, Bilic. Booked: Dunne, Cadamarteri. Goals: Ball 18 pen.

Newcastle: Given, Barton (Hamann 69), Serrant (Albert 45), Batty, Charvet, Dabizas, Lee, Gillespie, Andersson, Dalglish (Brady 61), Speed. Subs Not Used: Harper, Solano. Booked: Barton, Serrant, Lee, Charvet.

Referee: N Barry (Scunthorpe).