Conjurer Saha so good making his goal chances; BLUE WATCH MARK O'BRIEN - HAS FANTASTIC FEELING BACK.

Byline: MARK O BRIEN

A WIN, finally. Fantastic!

One of the latest catchphrases for pundits is: "You don't want to have two weeks to dwell on it." And with an international break upon us, a defeat at Upton Park would have led to a fortnight of unimaginable suffering and self-flagellation among Evertonians.

West Ham are statistically Everton's favourite Premier League opponents though, and for the second season running, Louis Saha led a smash-and-grab raid at the Boleyn Ground.

In all honesty, David Moyes's ragged team never played much better than they had during the preceding run of seven winless matches, but when the number in the games played column is nearing your points tally, nobody really cares if the performance is scruffier than a letter from Gordon Brown.

It's better to play badly and win than, well, play badly and not win.

There's a certain irony in the fact that in a season dominated by injuries, Everton are being kept afloat almost single-handedly by the enigmatic Saha.

Rumours abound from the Frenchman's Old Trafford days about how some of his multifarious ailments are in his head rather than his legs, back or wherever, but whether his problems are mental or physical, the methods the Everton management are using to get him out on the pitch seem to be working.

It comes as no surprise then that Moyes is keen to tie the ex-Fulham and Newcastle United striker down to a new contract.

When it comes to creating chances from nothing - and let's face it, that's what any Everton forward is working with at the moment - there's no one, not even the rapidly improving Yakubu, who can compare with Saha.

The opener at the weekend and the screamer at Bolton Wanderers are examples of what he can conjure up, and at the moment it looks as if Everton's chief gameplan is to simply keep matches as tight as possible and hope that he can snatch a goal.

The other goalscorer on Sunday, Dan Gosling, also deserves a mention.

Since scoring the winner in the FA Cup against Liverpool last season, his chances have been few and far between.

When he has started he has been run ragged, especially in the two thankless games against Benfica.

He got a bit of stick for the chance he fluffed at Bolton too, and it looked as if his luck had deserted him when Robert Green saved his shot at West Ham, so it was great to see his effort rewarded as he lashed home the rebound.

Goal-scorer Louis Saha is congratulated

CAPTION(S):

Dan Gosling