Everton 1-0 Burnley: Dominic Calvert-Lewin's fortunate goal in first-half stoppage time earns Toffees crucial win in relegation battle - with Dara O'Shea sent off for the visitors

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Burnley were always good for Sean Dyche and they continue to be so. Just when Everton’s manager needed help to end a famine, how appropriate his old club came bearing gifts.

The bare facts will tell you a goal from Dominic Calvert-Lewin in first injury time enabled Everton to win in the Premier League for the first time in 112 days – their last victory, way back on December 16, had come at Turf Moor – but there was so much more to it.

Without some kamikaze defending from Vincent Kompany’s side, though, it is debatable whether this contest would have ended with noisy acclaim and relief ringing around Goodison Park. Burnley, not for the first time in a campaign that is destined to end in relegation, shot themselves in the foot.

A catastrophic error from goalkeeper Arijanet Muric, which allowed Calvert-Lewin to close him down and score, had Kompany rocking back in exasperated disbelief. Worse would follow after the break when Dara O’Shea was sent-off for a clumsy foul, ruining their hopes of a comeback.

None of this, of course, will matter to Dyche. He simply had to secure three points, having gone 13 matches without this feeling, and the importance of it all should not be lost. This has to be the catalyst for more, with the spectre of relegation still stalking. Clearly, though, they must improve.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin's fortunate deflected goal gave Everton a vital home win over Burnley

Dara O'Shea was sent off for the visitors for denying a goalscoring opportunity to the Toffees

Former Burnley manager Sean Dyche simply had to secure three points for Everton at last

The one thing any supporter wants to see when they go through the turnstiles is good football, something adventurous to stir the soul. This is something that has never left Evertonians so the silence that enveloped this stadium for much of the opening period spoke volumes.

You can argue that needs must but seeing Jordan Pickford roll a ball out of his area before smashing it 60 yards forward for a knock down or watching Andre Gomes, once of Barcelona, cracking a diagonal free-kick to the back post jarred.

What exacerbated it all was to see what Burnley did. They had clear patterns of play, a commitment to keep the ball on the floor and, with better quality or a little more poise, they would have had an advantage long before their goalkeeper’s aberration.

Kompany is evangelical in his determination to play out from the back but the standard and the experience of the personnel means they are always only one mistake from it all collapsing and, 10 seconds before the interval, that’s what happened.

Muric dithered, looking to play a straight pass from the edge of his area into midfield, and that allowed Calvert-Lewin to close him down to the extent he was able to perfectly block the ball. Time stood still as it looped in the air but, quickly, an explosion of noise greeted it dropping into the net.

For a man whose confidence has been fractured, the importance of this intervention should not be underestimated. Calvert-Lewin had showed great character to dispatch a point-saving penalty at Newcastle five days earlier but this, arguably, was even more important.

Such was the restlessness in the stands, a blank first half would almost certainly have led to booing at the whistle but Calvert-Lewin, with one outstretched right leg, changed the atmosphere and, in all likelihood, changed the direction of the campaign.

With a buffer, Everton got on top and their task was made easier when O’Shea got his feet in a tangle and ended up flattening Dwight McNeil in the process. McNeil was 50 yards from goal but he would have been clean through and referee Michael Oliver had no alternative.

A man down, it was always going to be a struggle for Burnley and while they kept going to the end, it wasn’t enough. Everton can breathe again.

Calvert-Lewin closed down Burnley keeper Muric to perfectly block the ball for the only goal

O’Shea flattened Dwight McNeil when in on goal, and referee Michael Oliver had no alternative

The result allows Everton to breathe once again after a run of 13 games without a victory