Everton dream on

Everton - 1 Middlesbro - 0: David Moyes must be fretting about waking up any day now to discover this is nothing but a cruel dream.

"The pressure of being in a Champions League place is murder," he muttered in the aftermath. "But do we welcome it? Not half." Sarcasm was probably the only response to the vaguely surreal. Everton perch a lofty third in the Premiership today, with new investors waiting in the wings and their fans pinching themselves at how life is suddenly so good. So traumatic was this club's pre-season that disbelief was the overriding emotion greeting this victory. Disbelief tinged with delight.

This is now Everton's best start to a season in 26 years. That much is remarkable given the back-drop of boardroom squabbles, financial turmoil and the sale of the team's prize asset.

Victory here against a side who had previously averaged two goals per game was thoroughly deserved, earned as it was by Marcus Bent's first home goal for the club. The striker cost a cut-price £450,000 from Ipswich in the summer, a tenth of the price for which Boro lured the ineffective Mark Viduka, and epitomised everything that Everton are: spirited, committed and infuriatingly awkward to combat.

Three minutes after the interval Lee Carsley got his head in the way of Doriva's shot with the loose ball ricocheting away to Leon Osman. The 23-year-old slipped Bent into the Boro half for the striker to out-pace Gareth Southgate and clip over the advancing Mark Schwarzer. The attempt might have gone wide had Franck Queudrue not launched himself at Bent's feet with the shot deflecting off his leg into the empty net.

"The first thing I said to Marcus was he deserved that goal," said the captain Alan Stubbs. "This is all down to hard work. We wanted to turn all the crap that's been thrown at us over the last few months into something positive, and we're doing that. It's like what happened two years ago."

Back in 2002 Everton finished seventh in Moyes's first full season in charge. The omens that this might be a repeat are encouraging, despite the fact that theirs is the smallest squad in the Premiership. That situation will be rectified during the January transfer window, with the Fortress Sports Fund on the verge of completing an initial £15m investment in the club to secure a 29.9 per cent stake.

The frontman for those investors, the Geneva-based businessman Christopher Samuelson, claims to be an Evertonian. If so, he will have been encouraged by his side's display here.

Bent might have scored earlier, Schwarzer tipping away a free header at the far post from Kevin Kilbane's cross. The Irishman was also denied, his magnificent header from Carsley's centre matched by the standard of the Australian's save.

Boro were becalmed, suffering their first bout of post-Euro blues. Only once they trailed did they muster any kind of meaningful response but never enough to threaten Everton's composure.