Blackburn - 0 Everton - 0: Everton are the neutrals' choice for the Premiership, which is all very well as long as they do not have to watch them very often. Any side that dares to challenge the high-rollers of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United deserves encouragement, but on this uninspiring evidence they will do well to cling to a top-six place by the end of the season.
Everton are nothing if not superbly organised, so much so that their manager, David Moyes, might be just the efficient thinker needed to sort out Blackburn Rover's match-day parking arrangements, which resemble a scene from the television series League of Gentlemen, with roads illegally cordoned off and felt-tipped placards saying things like: "Local parking for local people."
It is Everton who would be as close as you can get to local Premiership winners for local people, with hard graft favoured above flair.
Rumour has it that Moyes favours a January move for Southampton's James Beattie, and if he makes him run around then he really will prove his managerial mettle.
For all their virtuous running and tackling, they produced nothing meaningful in the first half, apart from a header by Kevin Kilbane (too high), and registered their first shot on target after 76 minutes when Marcus Bent's angled shot flew straight at Brad Friedel.
Everton's grit is exemplified by their central midfield pairing of Lee Carsley and Thomas Gravesen, whose bald heads glint so meanly that it would be no surprise to wake up one morning to discover that they had engineered a coup in a small Latin American state.
Last season, when Everton were failing, their first foul might have brought an immediate booking. This season they get the extra liberty awarded to players in successful sides and so Moyes' men carry additional snap as a result.
Blackburn, who are making overtures to Robbie Savage, are not overstocked with midfield ball-winners, but they withstood the challenge with surprising resolve.
Carsley's burst into the area just before half-time was as good as anything Everton produced.
Admittedly, he did not quite have the skill to whip over the cross and collided with an advertising hoarding. But 10 seconds later, he had dusted himself down and had run 60 yards to defend in front of his back four. That's spirit.
Blackburn have now drawn six of their last eight, but if either side deserved victory, they did.
"We didn't look intimidated or overawed," said Mark Hughes, their manager. "One defeat in eight is not the form of a team that is struggling."
They might have scored after two minutes when Tony Hibbert miskicked Garry Flitcroft's header off the line and Brett Emerton wasted several good dashes down the right with some hit-and-hope crosses.
Blackburn also finished much the stronger. After 87 minutes, Paul Gallagher tapped a stray ball into the net after Nigel Martyn had parried Steven Reid's shot, but was just offside. In stoppage time, Emerton's deflected drive thudded off the post.
Moyes had dared to relax his conservative 4-5-1 with half an hour remaining, not as much changing the system as bringing more attacking players into it, and the upshot was that Everton almost lost. He will probably not take another risk until 2007. They are third for the moment. Who knows where they will be then?
