Everton 1 Newcastle United 0: Everton have eked breathing space from those condemned to the relegation zone, though, as the fury subsides, the after-shocks of this fractious occasion will rumble on.
That both teams ended the match with a full complement of players owed much to the generosity of the officials whose oversights stretched from punches, via elbows to deliberate handballs; if the scoreline suggested a routine home victory, it masked the real frenzy.
Alan Shearer - who appeared to elbow David Weir - Tim Cahill and Celestine Babayaro are likely to escape further sanction from the Football Association given that the referee, Howard Webb, spoke to them all after their various misdemeanours, suggesting he had witnessed and assessed their conduct.
They each provided snarling sub-plots to the football, though Graeme Souness's unwillingness to comment afterwards was more a reaction to a blatant and unpunished handball by James McFadden on the goal line which deflected a Shola Ameobi attempt behind.
Had the Scot's instinctive wristy flick at the near post been spotted by linesman or referee Everton would have lost a player and, potentially, conceded from the penalty spot. Instead Newcastle departed at the interval aggrieved and might as well not have reappeared thereafter, so meek was their showing from then on.
Babayaro - who had already been booked - and Cahill summed up the simmering discontent by clashing a minute before the break, the Nigerian blocking the Australian's run at an Everton free-kick. Cahill swung twice with his left fist, Babayaro once with his in retaliation, though neither had gleaned much from Ricky Hatton's bout the night before.
More sinister was Shearer's lunge at Weir midway through the second period, the striker glancing back at his marker as he prepared to cradle Shay Given's clearance before planting his arm in the defender's throat. There were words between the referee and visiting captain, but no action was taken, to the incredulity of the crowd.
"I think I know what you're getting at," offered the Everton manager David Moyes when asked how Weir was feeling, "but you can make up your own mind."
Shearer's action was born out of frustration, the forward having been thwarted by Beattie's goal-line clearance and Nigel Martyn's close-range block before Newcastle slipped into the anaemic, wallowing in the injustice of McFadden's handball.
The Scot had forced Given to tip aside a low drive 32 seconds into the second period before, still inside the first minute, Joseph Yobo out-jumped Peter Ramage at Mikel Arteta's corner to thump a header beyond the despairing Emre on the goal line. The visitors' inability to force a save from Martyn thereafter condemned them to a fifth Premiership defeat away from St James' Park this term.
Only when Scott Parker side-footed Charles N'Zogbia's cross wide did they threaten, their second-half slop inexcusable given Everton's fragile confidence.
Yobo's goal had been only the hosts' fifth of the campaign, the sight of James Beattie blazing over from Simon Davies' pass when a simple finish would have secured the points 11 minutes from time indicative of a complete lack of form. The miss had Moyes ripping his hair out in exasperation on the touchline. The manager must have despaired when Given thwarted McFadden and Cahill, twice, in stoppage time. Guardian Service
