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David Moyes had stressed before the match against Fulham that the responsibility for scoring goals must not fall solely on the team's forwards. “I demand more goals from my centre-halves and central players as well,” he insisted. Idrissa Gueye and the English defender rose to the occasion, delivering a well-earned victory over Marco Silva’s toothless team.

The Merseyside club's second win in nine outings was largely untroubled as the visitors showed the reason their top marksman this season is opposition own goals. Aside from a short spell in the second half, the away side were subdued throughout by Everton’s greater urgency and quality. Moyes’ team had three goals disallowed for offside, but a close-range strike from Gueye in first-half stoppage time and Keane’s late conversion ensured there would be no reprieve for their ex-coach.

No player needed a goal more than the young striker, the Goodison Park forward who had gone 10 Premier League outings without a shot on target after his big-money move from the Spanish side and spurned a clear opportunity to put his team two goals ahead at the Stadium of Light on Monday. The 23-year-old directed the earliest chance of the game wide of Bernd Leno’s crossbar when picked out by Iliman Ndiaye’s fine cross.

The home side dominated the early exchanges and the visiting shot-stopper pushed over the midfielder's long-range set-piece, given after Sasa Lukic was yellow-carded for hauling down Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Lukic brought down the same player later in the half but the referee, the man in charge, rightly ignored home protests for a second yellow. The Fulham boss was not risking anything, however, and substituted the player at the interval.

Barry thought his luck had changed at last when sliding in at the far post to turn in a low cross by Gueye. But the joy of a maiden strike was wiped out by an assistant referee’s flag. The attacker was offside when attacking Gueye’s cross, and failing to connect, and the video assistant referee backed up the on-field decision. The forward's bad luck may have continued in the final third, but his all-round performance justified Moyes’ decision to keep the faith. His movement and work-rate kept busy the opposition's back line and helped give the hosts the edge throughout.

The Londoners came into the contest slowly with Sander Berge and the ex-Goodison player Alex Iwobi working well in midfield, but the early danger from the visitors was minimal. Raúl Jiménez fired weakly at Jordon Pickford when teed up in the box by his teammate and sent a free-kick from a dangerous position directly at the Everton wall. That summed up their attacking output.

Everton, driven on by Dewsbury-Hall and Ndiaye, had a another strike disallowed for an infringement when the Fulham goalkeeper saved a effort from Keane and the captain fired home the rebound. The skipper had moved offside when nodding down Jack Grealish’s cross in the build-up. But Everton’s next effort beating Leno counted. The left-back delivered a lovely cross to the far post when found in space on the left flank by the youngster. The defender connected with a thumping header against the bar and, though Iroegbunam fluffed his lines, his teammate Gueye finished from close range. The relief inside the ground was evident.

Everton had a further effort disallowed after the restart after Dewsbury-Hall found the bottom corner from another inviting Mykolenko cross. The attacker had cushioned the delivery into the striker, who was offside when challenging Joachim Anderson for the touch that reached the home player. Everton would have to wait until the closing stages for the comfort of a two-goal lead. Dewsbury-Hall was the creator with a corner that Keane directed past the goalkeeper. He scored with the upper body, and the visitors' protests for a handball were dismissed by VAR.

Fulham carried more of a threat after the introductions of Josh King, Rodrigo Muniz and Adama Traoré. The Everton keeper made a fine stop with his feet to deny Muniz finding the net with his initial involvement and stopped Traoré with another important stop in the dying moments.