Not many of the diaspora on here seemed that moved by it but it sounds like the faithful who were there fully appreciated two goals of stunning quality and execution. All the best to you this Christmas, and let's hope the festivities continue at a packed Goodison Park come Thursday afternoon. Let's make it a true Boxing Day!

I think that Romelu is tiring a bit now, maybe that's why Vellios was on the bench today? I wouldn't mind betting that Vellios will have a role to play in the coming few games. After all, we have no apparent need for an out and out striker. It's all about the attacking players, barring Howard, Distan and Jagielka, they are all attacking players.

COYB

Great report as ever Ken. Happy Christmas Evertonians everywhere!

Well done, lads. COYB!

I was in the posh seats yesterday, on the half-way line. The Everton end was something to behold, a fantastic turnout. The crowd we were amongst were mostly Jacks, including the dad of a pal of mine who was celebrating his 95th birthday there. One or two of them were muttering that they had deserved a point, but on the whole they were pretty gracious, and very complimentary about our football.

There were also murmurings about the ease with which young Ross fell over, and the equal ease with which Mr Mason awarded him a free kick – it was difficult to argue. McCarthy was excellent in the second half, and Barry was constantly in space to receive the ball and keep it moving.

The Lukaku situation is a difficult one; even when he is not at his best, he is keeping two defenders occupied, creating the space that others take advantage of. We were saying at half-time that the game was ripe for an impact substitution at 60 minutes, Romelu could be devastating in that role for a game or two but it would be a huge decision to rest him to the bench.

Thanks again Ken, best wishes.

To be honest, I was shouting quite a bit at Seamus in the first half, as he was shaky in defence and out of position and gave a few passed away, but made up for it in 2nd half. Great lad, and true blue spirit. Great to have a McCarthy style player again and a great mix of experience and brazen, young and talent with confidence and as Roberto says with arrogance. That arrogance was missing in DM's time.

Starting to worry about Lukaku in terms of frustration – I'd like to see Roberto give him a break or time off. Put Mirallas up front, or the Greek lad – but Lukaku needs a break soon.

Delighted for Seamus and Ross, two fantastic strikes, nice to see we have the quality to edge a game like yesterday and we always looked a threat.

Patience is the key to our style of play, however I would like to see us take the lead a little earlier in games. Hopefully over the next few weeks we'll see our dominance produce a few more goals.

Thanks for your reports Ken, Merry Christmas to you and all the Blues out there.

There was no way Swansea deserved anything from the game, we had the best chances and should have killed them off before their flukey equaliser.

I hope players get their feet up for a few days and come back on Boxing Day in the mood to put a shed load past Sunderland.

All together now...

"The big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh
The ally-ally-oh, the ally-ally-oh
Oh, the big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh
On the last day of September.

The captain said it will never, never do
Never, never do, never, never do
The captain said it will never, never do
On the last day of September.

The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea
The bottom of the sea, the bottom of the sea
The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea
On the last day of September.

We all dip our heads in the deep blue sea
The deep blue sea, the deep blue sea
We all dip our heads in the deep blue sea
On the last day of September"

On second thoughts, there could be miserable omens here... let’s stick to the French etymology.

We played pretty well in spite of the conditions and it was a great result. Mirallas is dangerous as he has lots of pace and could perhaps be used more infield where he can run at the centre backs. McCarthy improved a lot in the second half as his first half display was pretty average. But Swansea are a decent team if allowed to play as they showed against Newcastle just a few weeks ago.

Does anyone have any insight as to why Coleman was so animated, toward what I presume were Swansea fans, after he scored? It was like had a a point to prove; was there some animosity there? It was hard to get any context on TV as I was watching without commentary...

Despite the performance, a win was vitally important. We are now averaging two points a game and confidence will still be very high after yesterday. Two good results this week means that we can go into the FA Cup weekend halfway through what is a great season. It also means that we can rest some players for QPR.

The bench caught my eye yesterday. The absence of Heitinga and Jelavic, added to Martinez's comments during the week makes me think that they may already be out the door. Fair enough, there was a little bit of squad rotation going on and while I was happy to see Vellios on the bench, I do think that not having Heitinga and Jelavic there was more than just rotation. The bench didn't fill me full of happiness though and I do think that we will need to buy players next month. I think Martinez will need to raise the cash before he can buy and Heitinga and Jelavic are the most obvious players to go.

And then he gets asked about Ross but at the end he said to those that don't subscribe, it's only an e-mail registration away. He seems like a nice lad.

Mr Mason was rather whistle-happy either way, but one thing he did do correctly was to take 10 decent sized paces to position the defensive wall for Ross's free kick.

I mean, can you imagine, in your wildest dreams, hitting a ball so perfectly, getting it to fly initially straight at the keeper, then curve away and beyond him just inside the post, and into the net, right in front of 2,000 drenched Evertonians who had just watched attack after attack after attack come to nothing?

Simply fantastic stuff.

Chelsea and Arsenal have just finished and that leaves us tied for fourth with Chelsea and only two point out of first. For me the great part of the year so far is that we have only lost one game and, like this game, we have found a way to win. It wasn't Romelu today but it was two great strikes from Seamus and Ross. Consistency at the back has been critical and as we look forward to the next few games over the holiday things are looking very good.

Merry Christmas from Canada. Wish I was there!

This may prove critical in the run in as, much as I hate to say it, it looks like the RS have finally got it together under Brenda (assuming they keep Suarez who does seem to be very happy there right now) and Citeh's home form should keep them in the top 4 so it could ultimately be one of these two we nick 4th place from if our season continues like this.

I do have concerns about Mirallas's service to Lukaku in particular but with so many others prepared to step up, it's becoming a habit to get results like the Swansea game. Long may it continue.

Finally,those saying Macca needs to add goals to his repertoire are crazy. 85 mins in and who was it that made the Barkleyesque drive through the middle to make something happen? Admittedly he was going nowhere and we were reliant on a lucky break (the needless foul) and a bit of magic from Ross to get us those all important, pre Xmas 3 points but what I saw was McCarthy's efforts creating that opportunity. Play to your strengths!

Only 2 points off the top with only 1 game lost and the best defensive record in the league.

The thing I am really happy about is that we can mix it up short, long, tough, pretty, tight or open. We can be a match for anyone.

Happy Crimbers to all fellow blues and lets hope for a very prosperous New Year.

Love the way when the two wingbacks are bombing forward, Barry just drops in between distin and jags so seamlessly if possession is lost and we need to defend as a three if the two boys are outta position. . Everybody is just totally on the same wavelength. Long may it continue. COYB.

Enjoyable report as usual Ken. The way we allowed them so much possession in the last 20 minutes was very puzzling and slightly disturbing, to put it mildly. We completely lost our shape. As you pointed out, they had nothing to lose but it took a brilliant performance from Howard and a goalmouth covered in stardust to keep us in front. Just when I thought dropping deep was disappearing from our game, it reappeared and scared me to death.

I agree, the game is forgettable for Lukaku but I hope he has patience because, as some mentioned earlier, this is one of those games where the wing-men do better because of the defence marking Lukaku down too much. I look forward to the games where he'll get more space as opposition start to realize we will attack them from all angles, not just Lukaku. Hopefully he'll get to catch up on his scoring then!