We may have managed to stop the golden child of Goodison and our losing run, but Duncan the tattooed millionaire and the much-maligned referee Styles proved tougher nuts to crack at Goodison Park.

On a brilliant sunny day in the North West, the travelling toon fans were in great voice throughout the game, interspersing their vocal support of the lads with favourites old and new aimed at the merseyside mackems.

And in amongst the now-familiar Rooney jibes, there was time to shout abuse at newly-acquired duck egg Kevin Kilbane, not to mention some ironic shouts of "dirty geordie b*st*d" directed towards Stevie Watson.

Certainly an air of optimism seemed to have settled over the away section by kickoff, in addition to that of general inebriation. What for some were quite literally pre-match high spirits had spilt over into some lunacy and for the first time in years here, there had been some pre-match grappling between the two sets of fans in a nearby pub.

On reaching the ground, toon fans were also leafleted by the home club in an attempt to try and reduce what is now termed "persistent standing" - the latest heinous crime perpetuated by away fans that threatens the very fabric of our society and must be ruthlessly crushed.

To a great extent this initiative was unsuccessful, but the leaflets did make nice paper aeroplanes - seriously though, this emotive issue has been firmly placed on the agenda this season, with ourselves and the League of Nations from Old Trafford seemingly targeted.

While there's no doubt a proportion of the crowd wish to sit due to comfort and visibility factors, the deeply inbred cynicism of the long-term away follower precludes one from believing that the current attempts at a clampdown have everything to do with control and nothing to do with helping supporters. 

We're told this is a safety issue, but in reality it's an exercise in sterilising the last group of football fans not yet brought to heel by the authorities; poor facilities and over-pricing having failed to deter the hard core traveller thus far.

Home fans by and large have been neutered and rendered almost inaudible, save for special occasions (look no further than the Gallowgate library for that) and attention now turns to that crap corner of the ground where the visitors have been shoehorned into seats that home fans in most grounds would happily occupy.

Those nasty away fans, with the songs and smells and noise - blatantly enjoying themselves without due care and attention and requiring policing inside and outside the stadium. How much better if only a selected bunch of nice well-heeled "customers" clad from head to toe in club shop regalia were allowed in (having travelled on official transport), to sit meekly and contribute to the atmosphere with an occasional "ra ra newcastle" before taking their litter home with them. None of those nasty songs about Liverpool slums or Rooney indulging in some unscheduled house clearance work.

When that pleasure is denied to us, we may as well sit in the bloody house and watch it on the telly - the atmosphere won't be any worse and the toilets will smell nicer... Probably.

Enough sermonising and on to the on-field action:

I don't propose to dwell on the Robert dismissal other than to say he incurred two avoidable yellow cards and the team looked happier without him. Despite the big talk on his website, he looks more and more like a peripheral figure at this club and the chances of him being around to reprise his non-performance in the FA Cup this season seem to recede by the week.

At least there's still one Frenchman in the side who looks like he's still prepared to earn his money though and Bernard gave as convincing a display as anyone this season at claiming a regular spot in the defence - it would be nice to think the appearance of Speed at left back against Birmingham had inflamed some Gallic passions. Happy also to report that Bramble was in the thick of the action.

TV footage failed to confirm it, but people in the main stand seemed to believe that Rooney had set out to injure our left back in the clash that saw the saviour of English football limp off. It's true there's a combative streak in Bernard that only a wound-up Andy Griffin seems to have and which a muzzled Bowyer has left at home on every occasion so far.

On the evidence of his games so far, none of the factions in favour or against the latter's acquisition can be satisfied - he's seemingly assured of a place in the team at an unhelpful outside slot that does him no favours and he's shown absolutely none of the perceived on-field aggression. So, in other words he's not passing, shooting or kicking people. 

In many ways the premature departure of Robert and the antics of referee Styles got Sir Bobby off the hook in this one - there was so much happening within those white lines that it was easy to forget how often this game descended into a glorified kick and rush contest. Make no mistake, I for one don't buy into this messiah Moyes carry-on - the jury remains out on anyone who willingly pays money for Kilbane. 

There were elements of ill-fortune attached to the late Everton leveller, with replays showing Jenas to be guilty of little more than being in the vicinity of Radzinski. Having said that though, Bernard's tumble for our second spot kick failed to get the mass appeal from the toon fans at that end of the ground that the first award had. Personally, I was just pleased someone had remembered it was permissible to attack the penalty area by running into it with the ball.....

(as an aside, the best description of Radzinski I've heard yet came from a bystander on Saturday, who called him "Bellamy without the yap." He still reminds me of that singer out of the Fun loving Criminals though....)

That Ferguson was on the field to bang home that second penalty must have come as something of a shock to the home fans, who like us had virtually given him up for dead. However, the prospect of rubbing our noses in it tore him away from his property speculation and the treatment table (although he's bound to suffer a relapse this week when he sees the highlights on Everton World). Frustratingly he also still had the presence of mind to merely lift up his shirt sleeve to reveal his Toffee's tattoo in celebration, rather than indulge in the full-blown shirt off routine that Styles would surely have punished with a second yellow. 

Back to that right hand side, and the absence of the recently-returned Solano from the squad once again allowed his stock to rise. In a manner reminiscent of the canonisation of Scott Sellars a decade before, each match Nobby misses sees him increasingly billed as the prime mover at the club, the source of inspiration from which good football flows. 

The fact his international appearances are on other continents makes it easier for Solano to be ignored and nothing to be said as to his omission. However, I fail to see the difference between letting him on for the first hour or so to give us what he's got, knowing he's got a full week before playing again. Or alternatively, how about a whole six minutes at the end of the game - that's how long he got at Leeds and his presence on the right helped us secure a point there.

Speed by contrast, would start somewhere in the side had he just returned from a tricky away trip to the moon, having landed his spaceship in Stanley Park shortly before the team sheets were handed in. On this occasion Bobby deigned to bring him off in the second half and replaced him with Jenas - from the upper tier of the Bullens Road, it was difficult to see who was playing there by that stage, save for Bellamy in a left wing slot, marginally more involved than previously.

Dyer's behaviour in this game also deserves some scrutiny - there was a definite sense of relief in the away section when he tumbled in the box for the opening penalty, mostly because many of us expected him to screw up the shooting chance. He was as busy as usual, but in what may be an apparent bid to claim the captain's armband, he found time to berate most of his team mates at various times and throw his arms up in mock horror on a couple of occasions. We await news of whether he wishes to be known henceforth as "the guvnor."

And what of the prodigal son? Having oiled his wooden leg and played for Wales, back he came, in his usual strop. Once again his major contribution to the stats was of the disciplinary variety rather than shots on target or assists. He may have played the full ninety, but to my mind he still owes us big style for our recent indulgence of him and that craphouse Mark Hughes - still the same snarling rotter that had people out of their seats shouting abuse when he played against us (see also G.Souness). Softly spoken interviews and wearing an expensive suit doesn't change that.  

It's a measure though of our current low ebb that we're not laying into the team at this juncture - in the reduced circumstances we're operating this wasn't as bad as it could have been, although it's not long since we'd have been bleating and whining about our all-too obvious shortcomings. Shame also that we've forgotten how to do that clock-running down thing in the corner - I used to like that.

Looking at the positives, we remain unbeaten this season away from home, this was our third consecutive 2-2 draw away in the premiership and we left here with a point more than we did last time. Most of the players showed something approaching a stomach for a fight, but those stats don't lie - three shots on target, two penalties and a free kick, all from the number nine. There's some old guff about buying tickets for raffles that could easily be shoehorned into this report, but we'll not bother.

Like Duncan Ferguson's garden, there's at least something to build on....but a defeat to a stubborn Bolton would leave us back at square one, with sterner tests looming over the horizon. 

Biffa