Alex Ferguson had his "Mark Robins moment" and Howard Kendall embraced "Kevin Brock's back-pass" - legendary turning points when a manager veered from the sack towards success.

Yesterday David Moyes identified his own, claiming that his reign as Everton manager might have been over this season had he failed to progress in Europe once again.

Moyes made the admission - surprising in that his position has not been seriously threatened for two years - as he prepared to welcome Arsenal to Goodison Park this evening and admitted that sixth-placed Everton no longer feared any opponents in the Premier League. In early October, however, with Everton 45 minutes away from exiting the Uefa Cup at the final qualifying stage, he had feared for his job.

"Metalist Kharkiv away is the most important result we have had so far," said Moyes, who fell at the final qualifying hurdle of both the 2005 Champions League and Uefa Cup. "We went from a first half in which we looked like going out of the Uefa Cup to a position now where we fear nobody, no matter who we are taking on.

"That was a big game for me. If I wanted to take Everton into Europe I needed to show that I could do it. If it hadn't happened that night, who knows what would have happened? If we hadn't gone through there might have been others who felt, 'Well, he's had a couple of goes now and it didn't work. Maybe he can't do it'."

The Metalist Kharkiv and Ukraine national coach, Miron Markevich, may be harder to recall than the incidents that are claimed to have saved Ferguson and Kendall from the sack, and the Scot must acquire silverware before his turnaround can be seen as truly significant.

Nevertheless, the Everton manager believes that night in Ukraine was the moment he and his team evolved into the unit that now has eyes on breaking the top four's dominance of Champions League qualification again.

Moyes added: "As a manager you have to find a way of winning by hook or by crook. We made so many different tactical changes to try and get a grasp of the game. Every time I played a card, Metalist played another and I thought they topped me on the night. For me it was a great learning experience. Everything I did, they did something different to better it. Then I had to change again and he did it again. They made a move that nearly beat my card trick in the end.

"There was so much at stake that night and, when I think back, that was a really good job done because at half-time we were saying, 'How are we going to get through this game?' I think it is a pivotal win for this club. It has given us great belief and having regular games has been more of a help than a hindrance." - Guardian Service