Middlesbrough 0 Everton 2:Fabio Capello is rumoured to have spent much of the festive break alternating between studying English and watching DVDs of potential England strikers.
It is not known if the "collected goals and assists of Andrew Johnson" featured among the collection assembled at the Italian's Marbella villa but the Everton forward will doubtless hope that Spanish TV picked up yesterday's highlights.
If so, England's new coach would not have failed to be impressed by the forward's contribution to a win that keeps David Moyes's side on course for European qualification while condemning Gareth Southgate to an unhappy New Year's Day.
Yet if the scoring of one goal and creation of another for James McFadden - who dedicated it to a former team-mate, the Motherwell captain Phil O'Donnell, who died after collapsing during a game on Saturday - ensured that Johnson caught the eye, Phil Jagielka and Joleon Lescott were equally responsible for ensuring Everton went home with all three points.
Jagielka is a workhorse dusted with quality and, again operating in central defence, he denied Southgate's side a goal when he cleared Stewart Downing's angled first-half volley off the line.
Lescott did his bit alongside him, intercepting Tuncay Sanli's goalbound shot and booting it clear after Jagielka's presence had restricted the forward's shooting options.
"Joleon's clearance was a turning point," said Moyes, who was missing several injured and suspended players including Mikel Arteta and Tim Cahill as well as Joseph Yobo.
"We didn't play as excitingly as we can but we were professional and scored a couple of half-decent goals.
"They told us finishing fourth the last time (2004-2005) was a fluke, so we'll have to see if we can repeat it. But finishing in the top 10 is a massive achievement."
It is one Middlesbrough are unlikely to accomplish. Instead Southgate is resigned to a "long, hard struggle" against relegation and admitted: "When we keep having disappointments like this, it's hard. The key over the next few months will be our crowd staying with us. Without that it will be very hard."
Middlesbrough might have taken the lead when Lescott's clearance from Tuncay fell to Gary O'Neil, but Tim Howard reacted smartly to parry the midfielder's shot. Similarly, Howard showed decent reflexes when Tuncay dinked the ball at him after Emmanuel Pogatetz bamboozled Tony Hibbert.
"The first goal always has a massive impact on us," said Southgate, whose side effectively folded after Johnson's goal. The decision to sell Yakubu Ayegbeni to Everton at the end of August remains controversial and the Nigerian striker - booed throughout - was involved in his side's opener, playing in Steven Pienaar on the edge of the area. Spotting a promising shooting angle, Johnson whipped the ball off the midfielder's toe and sent a low, right-foot shot into the bottom corner.
Johnson then exchanged passes with McFadden, whose surging run had swept him into the area. All that remained was for the Scot to hold off Jonathan Woodgate and dispatch a crisp shot past Mark Schwarzer. McFadden then ran to the away fans tugging at his black armband.
