Jelavic effort enough against Spurs

Everton striker Nikica Jelavic delivered the winning strike on his full debut in a 1-0 victory over Tottenham at Goodison Park.

The Croatia international capped an impressive performance on his first start with a well-taken goal midway through the first half.

It extended Everton's unbeaten run to 10 in all competitions and they head into Tuesday's Merseyside derby at Anfield just two points behind Kenny Dalglish's side.

Spurs, conversely, have north London rivals Arsenal breathing down their necks and could see the gap to the fourth-placed Gunners cut to just a point on Monday night.

Jelavic had looked a threat from the start and provided the knockdown from which Marouane Fellaini forced Brad Friedel to save.

In the 22nd minute he played a pivotal part with the sort of finish Everton have been missing since the sale of Louis Saha in January.

Leon Osman broke past Younes Kaboul into the box and brilliantly took both Sandro and Ledley King out of the game with his cutback which Jelavic clinically fired first-time past Friedel.

Spurs were disappointing in the first half, Gareth Bale particularly so with his main contribution being two wide shots. Jermain Defoe was also guilty of wastefulness as he seemed destined to score until some late pressure from John Heitinga forced him to shoot well wide.

The striker looked sharper immediately after the restart as Tim Howard twice had to save from him, and Luka Modric was also starting to look more threatening.

Bale thought he had set up the equalising goal when he turned Benoit Assou-Ekotto's cross into the path of Defoe but the striker was well offside as he fired in from close range. And substitute Saha should have bagged an equaliser in the third minute of added time but hit a post.