Nottingham Forest 0 Everton 1: Dwight McNeil secures smash and grab Toffees win to edge Dyche’s men closer to safety

SPIDER-MAN fanatic Dwight McNeil was Everton’s super-hero as he helped the Toffees climb off the bottom of the table.

Sean Dyche’s men dominated Forest but, without the cutting edge of injured striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, they struggled in front of goal.

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Dwight Mcneil scored a brilliant goal[/caption]

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It was Everton’s first win since being hit with a ten-point deduction[/caption]

Until midway through the second-half when McNeil produced some heroics his cartoon hero would have approved of.

The £20million winger pounced on Chris Wood’s headed clearance to smash the ball high beyond Serge Aurier and Odysseas Vlachodimos into the roof of the Forest net.

It was a goal which always looked likely to settle a dour 90 minutes and despite Murillo forcing a brilliant save from Jordan Pickford and Anthony Elanga going close in the dying minutes, Everton were well worth the win.

It left Forest looking at back-to-back home defeats and with just one win in 10 games the pressure is beginning to pile up on Steve Cooper.

This really was a must-win game for Sean Dyche, who stretched his unbeaten run against Forest to eight games here.

Burnley’s emphatic win over Sheffield United saw Everton rooted to the bottom of the table at kick-off.

But they battled to grind out the victory they needed to leapfrog Burnley and swap places with Sheffield United, leaving the Blades as the Prem’s bottom dogs.

To be fair to Sean Dyche’s men they called on their famous Dogs of War spirit as they made life hell for Forest from the start.

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They snapped into tackles and nipped at ankles to completely throw Cooper‘s men off their stride and spent much of the game pinned in Forest territory.

Forest grimly clung on to half-time despite playing much of the half with two crocked centre halves as Willy Boly and Murillo both struggled with injuries.

Behind them Greek goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos did little to inspire confidence as he failed miserably to take a string of Everton crosses.

His weak attempt to collect Dwight McNeil’s deep corner inside 10 minutes gave Forest the jitters as he weakly palmed it down with his left glove.

Fortunately the loose ball struck Morgan Gibbs-White‘s chest rather than his arm and Forest survived.

But it gave Everton encouragement and they continued to dominate.

James Garner pounced on a Toffolo headed clearance and chested the ball down but his volley lacked power and Vlachodimos saved easily.

Midway through the half Everton passed up a glorious chance when Vlachodimos came into traffic and flapped at the ball under pressure from Boly and McNeil.

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Sean Dyche’s men showed the fighting spirit he has been demanding[/caption]

The ball dropped invitingly for Beto but the Portuguese striker showed why he has yet to open his Premier League account, wastefully firing over with the goal gaping.

Forest had struggled to get forward but they almost snatched the lead when Serge Aurier’s cross was missed by Chris Wood and fell invitingly for Anthony Elanga.

But the Swedish winger’s drilled shot across Jordan Pickford flew wide.

At the other end McNeil’s cross was headed back to him by Murillo and the Toffees winger sent a looping header which drifted over.

Murillo appeared to damage his knee and spent the rest of the half limping, alongside fellow crock Boly.

Everton smelled blood and came close to breaking the deadlock just before the break when Doucoure took a brilliant touch and played in McNeil, leaving Boly for dead.

However, although his drilled shot beat Vlachodimos, Murillo saved the day by brilliantly diverting the ball off the line as it clipped the far post on its way to safety.

Murillo required treatment before Forest came close to snatching the lead when Sangare set up Gibbs-White but the usually reliable forward fired wide of Pickford‘s near post.

Forest managed to patch Murillo up during the break but Boly had to be replaced by Felipe who came on for his first appearance of the season.

The Brazilian almost made a dream start but he hit the post after Toffolo’s corner was fired straight at him by Elanga.

But McNeil put the game beyond Forest with his first goal of the season to take the Toffees to within two points of the safety zone and drag Forest ever closer to them.

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Everton move to 18th in the table[/caption]

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See how it unfolded in our live blog below…