Don Hutchison had the first meaningful chance of the day, with a volley which flew over the crossbar. Ibrahima Bakayoko served notice of his intent to take up Duncan’s mantle as early as the sixth minute when he he shot narrowly over from 20 yards out. Ten minutes later he was back in the thick of the action again but this time his effort cannoned off a Charlton defender.

This was the cue for Charlton to come back into the game and have a couple of good opportunities themselves. Redfearn picked up the ball in his own half and went on a marauding run, unchecked through the Everton rearguard. His fierce drive was tipped over for a corner by Myhre.

Later on in the half, Hunt rose to plant a header against Myhre’s post. The ball came out and the Norwegian had to be at his best to deal with two follow-up shots. Hunt found himself with another shooting opportunity shortly after but pulled his shot wide of the target.

The quality of the football that Everton were producing, whilst by no means Brazilian in style was certainly prettier to watch than it had been at some times this season. Blessed with the ball-playing skills of Grant, Collins and Hutchison in midfield, there seemed to be more thought going into each pass.

Three minutes into first-half injury time, the Blues made their superiority tell. The goal came from a good move which started almost by the Everton corner flag on the left-hand side of the pitch. Collins brought the ball out of defence and laid it off to Michael Ball. Ball looked up and played a neat one-two with Tony Grant. Looking up, Ball spotted a perfectly paced run by Cadamarteri before releasing a laser guided up-and-under right into the path of Danny. Danny kept his cool as he saw Sasa Ilic running out. He nudged the ball past the prospective England number one and slotted the ball effortlessly into the empty net.

If Chairman Peter Johnson was in any doubt as to the feelings of the Everton supporters, the 2,000 plus vociferous travelling Blues were only too happy to remind him throughout the afternoon. The second half started perfectly for the Blues with Bakayoko being clumsily tripped in the area by Melville.

An injury to Unsworth gave Ilic time to psyche out penalty taker, Michael Ball. First he rolled the ball off the spot and then he was off his line giving Ball verbals. It worked. Ball’s tame shot was easily pushed away by Ilic and Charlton were given a new lease of life.

Charlton’s switch to 4-3-3 in the second half was making for a more open game and it was no surprise when they drew level on 73 minutes. Everton gave away a needless free kick, 10 yards away from the penalty area on the left. Myhre deemed that only a two-man wall was necessary, which gave Mark Kinsella plenty to aim at. Kinsella despatched the ball like an Exocet missile into the bottom right hand corner and the Addicks were level.

It was to be a short-lived moment of joy for the home fans as they were behind 60 seconds later. Richard Dunne’s cross was weakly punched out by Ilic and the ball fell to Hutchison. Hutchison squared the the ball to the lurking Cadamarteri and the youngster rifled a shot into the roof of the net to send the fans behind the goal wild.

Oster came on in the 83rd minute for the tiring Grant and his only contribution was the honour of being the only player booked all game for a petulant challenge. Yes, hard to believe... Mendonca could have snatched a point for Charlton at the death, but a well-timed challenge from David Unsworth ensured that the Blues claimed all three points.

Player Ratings (by James Goddard)

• Myhre 7: Good saves to keep us in the game but he should have organised the wall better and needs to improve his kicking – not nearly accurate enough.
• Dunne 6.5: Good tackling etc but didn't always pick the correct pass to play. He looks a very promising player but is this his correct position? We will see.
• Unsworth 7: Very good tackling – especially one tackle on Mendonca in the area, which was brilliant. Still looks to play the long ball but tended to play it simple more often than not.
• Watson 6: Good stuff again. Really is slow. Looks like he hurt his knee I reckon as he seemed to be hobbling toward the end of the first half
• Short 7: Good stuff as normal. He looks very comfortable on the ball and we should keep him.
• Ball 7: Yep good tackling and tried to get forward against a bloody good right-back Danny Mills bought for nothing from Norwich who I said we should buy and is now worth quite alot. Ho Hum.
• Collins 7: Best game so far. Didn't take too long on the ball as normal. Keep it up. (School report or what??)
• Hutchison 8: Very good I thought, put himself about alot but DIDN'T dive in, and played some lovely passes.
• Grant 6: Off the pace today – needs more match fitness but the signs were there.
• Cadamarteri 8: Very good game. He caused Charlton havoc all day, but still looks like more of a right winger. Two goals well taken.
• Bakayoko 7: Best game so far, lovely on the ball and tracks back well but still not fully fit and needs to pass it a little more.
• Oster 6 for his performance 3 for his booking, the stupid prat.
• Cleland 6: His first touch of the ball was to do a foul throw!!!

Team 7.5 Very good, lovely football – and they PASSED IT

Man of the Match: Danny Cadmarteri

It was hardly a return to the School of Science but it was also far removed from their recent brand of circus football in which Big Dunc featured as the central totem in the Big Top. The moment when Everton offered persuasive evidence that the surprising £7M transfer of the tall, leaping Scot might not terminate all their attacking potential arrived in late injury time of the first half.

John Collins played the ball neatly from defence when a week ago he might have been tempted into a whack up the centre of the field [er.. Bollocks!  Unsworth, yes, but NOT Collins! – Ed]. His careful pass reached Tony Grant who found Michael Ball on the left. A first-time, visionary little chip followed and Daniel Cadamarteri adroitly ran into space, rounded goalkeeper Sasa Ilic and scored from close range. It was a goal which demanded some help from defensive shortcomings but that did not make it any less pleasing to the eye.

Not that this cut much ice with Everton's manager, Walter Smith. He was happy enough to accept three points for the second time in a week but conveyed the impression that his heart was not really in it. "If I'd had the option I would have kept Duncan Ferguson," he said. "We were in a position where we had to sell and therefore we were forced into a different type of football. If that's the kind of football everybody likes and as long as it's a winning type of football then fine."

Smith will bear in mind that whatever the nature of his side's approach and, according to him, the players did it themselves – it was against an increasingly moderate Charlton side. Sustained by passion and novelty early in the season Charlton are discovering that while the Premiership might be low in quality it is still hard on defensive errors.

While Everton were still adjusting their strategy in the absence of the Giant Header, in the first half Charlton might have taken the lead. Andy Hunt headed against a post and pulled another left-foot shot wide and they were further denied by the reflexes of Thomas Myhre, who tipped over a 25-yard volley and then parried a free kick and the resultant shot.

The first goal was Charlton's penance for this and a minute into the second half they almost fell further behind. Ibrahima Bakayoko, who may be the chief beneficiary of Ferguson's departure, went on a long, determined run, resisting all challengers till he reached the box. There Mark Kinsella, presumably unaware of Bakayoko's profligacy, bundled him down. Michael Ball had a chance to become Everton's highest league scorer (with three goals) but put his penalty too close to Ilic who gathered comfortably if alertly to his left.

Without showing many credentials that they had what it took to equalise, Charlton did so in the 72nd-minute. Kinsella's 30-yard free kick was a spectacular affair, searing through the defence and into the bottom corner.

But this was a new Everton. They were ahead again within seconds. Ilic was again at fault, coming for a high ball (well, old habits die hard) and failing to hold it. Don Hutchison flicked it on to Cadamarteri, whose task in scoring was more straightforward this time.

Everton's defence knew far too much to allow Charlton back into the game again and the home side, which cost £2M less than Ferguson alone, knew too little. It was a match whose result probably mattered more to Everton than the style. Their supporters are perhaps too bewildered by events of recent seasons to have noticed. They were too busy calling for the resignation of their chairman, Peter Johnson.

They might have missed Ferguson but they are probably more angry at the way he departed – without referral to the manager. They probably have a point but they might also realise that Everton without the Giant Header are not only more attractive but more proficient.

Temporarily, the pressure may have diminished, but this was still a mixed occasion for their followers, with the repercussions from the departure of their cult hero never far from the surface.

The travelling contingent in a sell-out crowd wasted no time in demonstrating their contempt for chairman Peter Johnson following his decision to sell Ferguson to Newcastle in midweek without deeming it worthy of consulting manager Walter Smith. Long before the first whistle, the Everton supporters had unfurled a number of banners, one reading: 'Johnson took us to the cleaners, but this won't wash . . . so go now!'. And it appears he will.

Barely 30 seconds had elapsed before the cry of 'Johnson out' emanated from the Jimmy Seed Stand, a chant applauded by large sections of the home crowd. Not that Everton could boast of being prolific, even when they did have their favourite son in tow. A tally of eight goals in their previous 14 Premier League matches – the worst in the division – told its own sorry tale.

With Ferguson a bitter-sweet memory, Ibrahima Bakayoko will have ambitions of becoming the new folk hero for the blue half of Merseyside. But the jury are still out on the Ivory Coast striker, with a wild early shot less of a danger to Sasa Ilic than to the pigeons on the roof of the stand.Bakayoko produced one of the few endearing moments of the opening period with an exquisite turn and mazy run leaving three defenders in his wake, but there was no denying Everton were toothless in attack, with Danny Cadamarteri's runs more of the headless chicken variety than aerial threat.

But all Charlton could muster in the early stages was a speculative effort from Neil Redfearn and, when the hosts established the momentum that has made them one of the surprise packages of the season, they found Everton's goalkeeper Thomas Myhre in inspired form.

The Norwegian's finest moment came in the 34th minute with breathtaking reflex saves to deny Mark Kinsella and then Paul Mortimer, with the visiting defence still holding an inquest into how Andy Hunt had been allowed space to head Chris Powell's free kick against a post only moments earlier.

When Everton made the breakthrough in first-half injury time it was totally out of the blue and, predictably, the result of a mistake. What possessed Ilic to charge from his line in a foolhardy attempt to cut out Michael Ball's hopeful punt, only he will know.The goalkeeper's sudden rush of blood was an open invitation to Cadamarteri, who nipped in front of Ilic before knocking the ball into an empty net with Charlton's goalkeeper in no-man's land.

Ilic partially made amends when he saved Ball's weak penalty three minutes into the second half after Bakayoko's surging run had been abruptly ended by Kinsella's lunge.

Charlton's hopes were briefly raised and Kinsella brought the game level when he drilled a 72nd-minute free kick past Myhre into the bottom corner of the net.

However, it was Cadamarteri, who was becoming an increasingly potent figure, who had the last laugh, with an emphatic drive following good work from Don Hutchison with the home defence all at sea.

But as the game wore on it looked as though the departure of Ferguson, whose astonishing head has always been a magnet for the high ball, may have obliged Everton to play better and more effective football.

This was especially evident in the performance of the gifted striker they recently signed from France, Ibrahima Bakayoko. In the first half one of Bakayoko's sinuous, individual runs had spread panic in the Charlton defence. In the second half, he embarrassed them time and again, eventually procuring a penalty, even though the unfortunate Michael Ball proceeded to miss it.

Moreover, the understanding and the combination between Bakayoko and young Danny Cadamarteri blossomed with the passing of the minutes. Smith said afterwards that he was glad Cadamarteri had scored twice: "It's a part of his game where he has to show more consistency."

"Poor," said Charlton's manager Alan Curbishley, and it was difficult to contradict him. The fact remains that when Curbishley brought on Steve Jones to give his team a three-pronged attack in the second half, they looked a good deal less effective than they had before the interval.

Significantly, the only goal they scored, although it was an astonishing one, came from a free kick. With Charlton still a goal behind, and the game 72 minutes old, Mark Kinsella, from the best part of 35 yards, struck a phenomenal right-footed free kick, low and wide of Thomas Myhre.

Sasa Ilic, Charlton's lofty Yugoslav goalkeeper, was both hero and villain of the piece. It was clear that Curbishley, although he carefully refrained from saying so, blamed him for both the Everton goals. He was monumentally at fault for the first, which came in first-half injury time and at a moment when the last thing one expected was an Everton goal. But when Ball sent a long pass forward, Ilic rushed out of his goal, missed the ball completely and enabled Cadamarteri to shoot into the deserted net from the left.

Three minutes after half-time, one of Bakayoko's insidious solo runs gave Everton their penalty. Receiving the ball from Tony Grant, Bakayoko cut into the box, went past Richard Rufus, and was brought down by Kinsella. It may have been that had Ball been allowed to take the penalty at once, he would have scored. There was a hiatus, perhaps ill-advised on Everton's part, when the physio ran on to treat David Unsworth. And when Ball did take the penalty, Ilic dived low to his left to seize the shot.

It was a game which took some time to come to the boil. Not until the 20th minute did we have the sniff of a goal. That was when Neil Redfearn robbed Don Hutchinson and ran on to have one of his characteristically powerful, long-range shots turned over the bar by Myhre.

After another 14 minutes, Myhre found his goal under siege. First, he rashly advanced too far when Carl Tiler took a free kick, leaving Andy Hunt's header to sail over his head, only to rebound from the post. Almost immediately, he was forced to push away a shot by Kinsella and was agile enough to react instantaneously and punch clear the resultant drive from Paul Mortimer.

Curbishley admitted that once Charlton had equalised: "I felt quite confident, only for us to make another mistake."

Two mistakes, probably. Straight after Kinsella's spectacular equaliser, Everton came away and, as Curbishley seemed to imply, Ilic should have cut out their cross. Instead, the ball reached Hutchison who found an unattended Cadamarteri to his left - surely a bad defensive lapse in itself - and into the top of the net went Everton's second goal.

"We made two dreadful mistakes," said Curbishley. "And it cost us dearly." That was not, however, the whole of the story. Kinsella's free kick apart, it is difficult to think of any real opportunities Charlton made in a frustrating second half. "We've just found it's a tough league," said Curbishley, "and if you make mistakes like we've been making, we'll be punished."

By the same token, if your attacking game is as sterile as Charlton's was in the second half, you are all too often likely to pay the penalty. Curbishley did, late, bring on Shaun Newton, whose power and pace has been missed for many weeks now on the right flank; but as the Charlton manager emphasised, Newton is not yet 100% fit.

Walter Smith, on the other hand, is entitled to be optimistic, even without Ferguson.

The talismanic Ferguson has many qualities but his presence in the Everton side was not doing either party any favours. Mindful of his capacity to win a match single-headed, many team-mates had abandoned all pretence of passing the ball, simply hoofing it at his head from the halfway line. As well as making Everton thoroughly predictable, it left good footballers like John Collins and Tony Grant redundant and also ruined Ferguson's game.

Though talented on the ground, he ended his Goodison days doing little more than hanging around the D at the top of the penalty box with his arm in the air waiting for the long punt forward.

Everton's pre-Saturday tally of eight goals in 14 league matches underlined the team's goalscoring problem. Ferguson may have scored half of them but his niggardly return in four years as a Blue, 37 goals at one every three matches, reflected his habit of only turning it on in the big games.

Since debuts come into that category, Newcastle fans should not get carried away just yet, though the fresh start, the presence (maybe) of Alan Shearer and the stylistic demands of Ruud Gullit could enable him to flourish anew.

Everton fans, meanwhile, should not look longingly at Tyneside but positively towards the future. There was more attacking variety on Saturday than they have managed in any game this season and also three points, two goals and the luxury of a missed penalty. The midfield trio of Collins, Grant and Don Hutchison were always involved, moving the ball neatly amongst themselves and frequently picking out both the supporting wing-backs and the breaking central strikers with good passes. The team still looks short of quality in several areas, but it was a promising start to the post-Ferguson era.

Not that Walter Smith was prepared to concede a link. The manager stuck rigidly to his insistence that he was both ignorant of and against the transfer - assertions not every Everton-watcher believes - and added: "Try to tell anyone at Newcastle we're better off without him. He's an asset to any club. Everybody said we were fighting relegation because we kept playing the ball up there. I don't believe that was the case."

But Smith did concede: "When he's not there there is an extra onus on the rest to make sure they take part in play. You do have to change slightly. If it forces us into a different type of football, all well and good - as long as it is winning football."

Smith noted that the confidence engendered in a young team (more home-grown than Charlton's) was as important as anything and Monday's victory over Newcastle clearly helped - mainly because it gave players belief in their passing and their ability to win without Ferguson.

There is still work to be done. In attack Ibrahima Bakayoko looked bright in flashes but his decision-making is still too slow for the Premiership and he does not look the easiest player for a raw teenager like Danny Cadamarteri to develop a partnership with. Neither is he an instinctive striker.

When Cadamarteri played an excellent ball into the area after eight minutes it was made to look useless because Bakayoko stood and waited for something to happen rather than gambling and hitting the near post in case it did.

Shortly before the break it happened again, only this time Hutchison was the provider and both Cadamarteri and Bakayoko were standing watching.

Cadamarteri redeemed himself in first-half injury time as Everton's new penchant for passing paid rich reward. Collins, winning possession by his own corner flag, played his way out of trouble instead of simply lashing the ball upfield. He found Grant, who passed to Michael Ball, whose curling ball behind the defence lured Sasa Ilic into a foolhardy rush from his goal. Cadamarteri proved quicker and rounded the off-balance keeper before scoring.

The game should have been secured shortly after the interval when Bakayoko, running on to Grant's fine pass, was dragged down by Mark Kinsella as he shaped to shoot. Ball, made nervous by a protracted wait for an injury elsewhere, hit a poor penalty and Ilic saved.

Kinsella, who was not even booked by the lenient Keith Burge, compounded the injustice by equalising with a 35-yard free-kick but Cadamarteri, taking a thoughtful pass from Hutchison in a goalmouth melee, quickly restored Everton's lead.

The ease with which they held it will have worried Alan Curbishley, whose Charlton side have now gone five Premiership games without a win. They are hard-working but are struggling to achieve the speed of thought and depth of concentration required in the Premiership. They did hit the post, through Andy Hunt, in a vibrant first-half spell which also saw Thomas Myhre make an excellent double save, but there was little else of note. If Clive Mendonca, with one goal in nine games, does not recover confidence, a thin squad is in for a hard winter.

For the Duncan Ferguson Saga, while it led to relations being strained between the men, has panned out rather nicely for Smith. On Match of the Day, Des Lynam joked at Ferguson's expense that the striker's move to Newcastle United "Suits you sir". Well, it suits Smith, too. For at last he is well and truly the Everton coach. Smith has spent £20 million trying to improve the team, but all of his purchases paled into insignificance next to Ferguson, the fans' idol.

Of course, Smith could never contemplate selling Ferguson. Apart from the obvious effects that would have on his standing among supporters, it would have placed too much pressure on the remaining players to excel without the Scottish forward. No, Johnson did Smith a huge favour. By keeping him in the dark about the deal with Ruud Gullit's team, Smith is innocent.

"If I had had the option, we would have kept Ferguson," Smith said on Saturday. Johnson does not mind being the fall guy. The fans were hardly fond of him, so more chants of "We want Johnson out" are not going to spear his soul.

So Everton get £8 million to assuage the financiers and Smith's signings get a chance to shine. And Johnson and Smith appear to have made up. Smith did not want to discuss his meeting with Johnson last Monday, but Smith did acknowledge that it was "a force of circumstances" rather than treachery that was at work.

Of course, Everton fans will scoff at any notion that Ibrahima Bakayoko is now poised to fill the aching chasm in their hearts. But against Charlton the former Montpellier striker delivered his best game for Everton since his £4.5 million signing at Smith's behest.

Bakayoko had forged little in the way of a partnership with Ferguson and his tendency to run at defences without a thought for where Ferguson might be hardly endeared him to fans. Against Charlton that trait led to a penalty decision and although Michael Ball failed with his spot kick, the point that the Ivory Coast-born forward can unsettle defences has now been made.

It was Danny Cadamarteri who blossomed in the new Dunc-free zone and he scored both Everton's goals, taking his chances with confidence after the Charlton goalkeeper, Sasa Ilic, had made errors. In goal for Everton, Thomas Myhre was in fine form. He tipped a 35-yard shot from Neil Redfearn to safety and made excellent reaction saves from Kinsella and Mortimer.

Charlton were unlucky that Hunt's header hit the upright and although they did beat Myhre, through Kinsella's free kick, Everton's shoddy attempt at a wall was to blame. "We're disappointed but not despondent," Alan Curbishley, the Charlton manager, said. Soon, that will be the view of the Everton fans, too.

In their first outing following the £7 million sale of captain Duncan Ferguson to Newcastle United, Everton responded manfully, taking a half-time lead and then firing in a winner within 60 seconds of Charlton's equaliser.

Everton's first high ball forward was misjudged by Carl Tiler, even though he was under no direct aerial challenge. Clearly it would take Charlton some time as well to become accustomed to the fact that Ferguson would no longer be emerging on the end of just such a manoeuvre.

For 20 minutes or so Alan Curbishley's team appeared content to let Everton have plenty of the ball, satisfied that they did not possess the artillery to hurt them.

Cadamarteri gave Everton's movements a sharper edge from his initial starting position wide on the right and his battle with Tiler was keenly fought; the former Evertonian making some timely tackles but, equally, often finding Cadamarteri streaking away.

Disappointingly for the visitors the youngster was unable to make the most of his own searing pace.

Having had a good look at things Charlton then began to show some intent of their own and towards the end of the first half were threatening to score on more than one occasion.

In the 34th minute Tiler's free-kick saw Andy Hunt direct a header on to the post. Thomas Myhre, poorly positioned, was lucky then but the goalkeeper was soon to distinguish himself, fending off Mark Kinsella's strong drive to his right and then, from the other angle of the area, pushing over a follow-up attempt from Paul Mortimer.

When Craig Short was guilty of sloppy defending and Dave Watson unable to rescue him, a low drive agonisingly close to the far post left Hunt convinced it was unlikely to be his day.

Everton were hanging on for the interval when they suddenly broke away to score. Sasa Ilic was tempted to leave his line as the ball was played in from the left but he was not quick enough to spot Cadamarteri steaming on to it, and after nipping in ahead of the goalkeeper Cadamarteri easily slid the ball home.

Charlton responded by removing Tiler to enable them to employ Steve Jones in a three-pronged attack. They should have been out of the chase immediately at the start of the second half, however, when a thrilling Ibrahim Bakayoko surge was halted unfairly by Kinsella. The delay while Dave Unsworth took attention for an injury evidently got to Michael Ball who, in pursuit of another successful conversion to follow his match winner against Newcastle, gave Ilic a comfortable penalty save.

When Kinsella scored direct from a free kick with 18 minutes remaining a first win in five games was within sight for the Londoners. Fatefully, they were unable to defend a lofted ball and Cadamarteri coolly put away his second goal of the afternoon.

Charlton Athletic  1       Everton  2              20,043
Kinsella 72                Cadamarteri 45,73                  
Chelsea  1                 Sheffield Wednesday  1  34,451
Zola 26                    Booth 66
Coventry City  1           Leicester City  1       19,894
Huckerby 78                Heskey 89
Newcastle United  3        Wimbledon  1            36,623
Solano 37, Ferguson 58,90  Gayle 33
Nottingham Forest  2       Aston Villa  2          25,753
Bart-Williams 32           Joachim 59,63 
Freedman 44      
Southampton  0             Derby County  1         14,762  
                           Carbonari 33
West Ham United  2         Tottenham Hotspur  1    26,044
Sinclair 37 47             Armstrong 72

Arsenal  1                 Middlesbrough  1        38,075
Anelka 89                  Deane 6
Liverpool  2               Blackburn Rovers  0     41,753
Ince 31, Owen 33
Manchester United  3       Leeds United  2       55,172
Solskjaer 45, Keane 46     Hasselbaink 30, Kewell 52
Butt 77                                          

Club                          P    W    D    L   GF   GA   GD   Pts
Aston Villa                  14    8    5    1   22   12   10   29
Manchester United            14    8    4    2   30   16   14   28
West Ham United              15    7    5    3   20   16    4   26
Arsenal                      15    6    7    2   15    7    8   25
Chelsea                      13    6    6    1   22   13    9   24
Leeds United                 15    5    8    2   22   14    8   23
Middlesbrough                15    5    8    2   24   17    7   23
Liverpool                    15    6    4    5   26   19    7   22
Derby County                 15    5    6    4   15   14    1   21
Wimbledon                    15    5    5    5   19   25   -6   20
Newcastle United             15    5    4    6   19   19    0   19
Tottenham Hotspur            15    5    4    6   19   23   -4   19
Leicester City               15    4    6    5   16   18   -2   18
Everton                      15    4    6    5   10   15   -5   18
Charlton Athletic            15    3    7    5   22   23   -1   16
Sheffield Wednesday          15    4    4    7   14   15   -1   16
Coventry City                15    4    3    8   13   21   -8   15
Nottingham Forest            15    2    5    8   12   24  -12   11
Southampton                  15    2    4    9   12   31  -19   10
Blackburn Rovers             15    2    3   10   14   24  -10    9