If you were looking for signs of progress then you would have found them at Goodison Park against Brighton & Hove Albion. Everton may have been denied a win by a cruel deflection but the disappointment that greeted Ashley Young’s late own goal told a story of its own.

This fixture last year represented one of the worst points of a dismal campaign as Brighton destroyed what was then Frank Lampard’s Blues. The contrast in the directions these two clubs were heading could not have been more stark.

Ten months later and Everton were a slice of bad luck from a hard-fought victory that would have sent this team soaring into mid-table off the back of six wins in eight games.

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The easy reaction to Brighton’s late equaliser would be to complain about officiating - Everton had several good claims for a penalty as they sought to protect their lead - or to bemoan the tired legs of a small squad, or the decision by Sean Dyche to turn to his substitutes bench only after his side had conceded to an opposition fresh with talented additions. But that would be to miss the real story of this cold, wet afternoon in L4.

Back in January the defeat to Brighton was indicative of so much that was going wrong at Everton. Now, all of a sudden, a lot is going right. Progress is in its early stages. In Everton’s circumstances it will be slow, tentative and there will be setbacks. But momentum, as fragile as it can only ever be, is building.

This result means one more point, it was another case of two in-form centre backs thwarting another excellent attack, three home games unbeaten, four games in five without defeat, five teams beneath Everton in the fledgling Premier League table, six points from the relegation zone, seven consecutive Dominic Calvert-Lewin starts… these are signs of real, tangible, evidence-based progress and Everton’s trajectory - delicate as these early signs of promise are - is vastly different to that bleak midwinter defeat at the start of this year.

Everton took an early lead and rarely looked like conceding it. Brighton’s rise to the upper reaches of the Premier League has been a joy to watch but, for all the intricate work of the club in the transfer market and on the pitch, there is more than one way to be effective and Dyche has now shown Roberto de Zerbi this for the second time in six months.

If the January defeat to Brighton was one of Everton’s lowest points of last season, the 5-1 win at the Amex in May was its highest, as unlikely as it was back then and still seems now.

On Saturday this was the Everton of spring bank holiday hope rather than mid-winter desolation. Again, a fast start underpinned a good performance and valuable result. This was always going to be a conflict of styles and after 10 minutes the difference in the key metrics was marked.

Brighton had enjoyed 90% of the ball and spent most of the opening minutes camped 30 yards outside the Blues’ box. But they had created little and the more important statistic was the scoreline. When Vitalii Mykolenko’s right footed volley was hammered into the ground, then the net, via Lewis Dunk’s body, Everton had already had one good opportunity - Abdoulaye Doucoure, scorer of the opening goal that set up that win on the south coast, firing straight at Bart Verbruggen when the ball dropped his way eight yards out.

Brighton did not learn and moments later, in the seventh minute, Mykolenko had a chance from a similar position to the left of the box. His first effort, with his left foot, was palmed back at him and he tucked away his second go. It was a big moment for the Ukraine international who, having started the season on the bench, has grown in stature since returning against Arsenal - keeping calm the likes of Bukayo Saka and Mo Salah in that period.

Everton received a reprieve after 25 minutes when Dunk, Brighton’s most dangerous player from set-pieces, skipped forward unmarked to volley a free-kick beyond Jordan Pickford via the underside of the bar. There were shades of the Luton Town goals that slayed Everton last time they lost at Goodison but on this occasion, following a lengthy VAR intervention, a lapse in concentration was not punished.

Aside from that let-off, the first half mirrored the opening 10 minutes - Brighton dominating possession but failing to get past James Tarkowski and the excellent-again Jarrad Branthwaite while Everton offered a constant threat on the counter attack. At the break, the visitors had enjoyed 84% of the possession but, having failed to do anything productive with it, were losing.

The second half followed a similar pattern. Pickford pushed over a Dunk free-kick and Brighton, improved by the addition of Joao Pedro, Ansu Fati and Mahmoud Dahoud dominated the ball yet were unable to pierce the box. On the rare occasion they did, Royal Blue shirts stood firm - Tarkowski bravely blocking from Pedro in one notable piece of rearguard action.

The one passage of play in which Brighton got behind Everton’s backline saw Branthwaite take down Fati after he was played through by a clever Pedro flick. Few backing the Blues would have disputed it was a foul that was worth the yellow card it received.

Throughout, Everton maintained menace though. Both Tarkowski and Calvert-Lewin appeared to be manhandled in the opposition box by Joel Veltman and Jan Paul Van Hecke respectively. Most of the 40,000 supporters at Goodison will have travelled home wondering just how a goalmouth scramble from an Everton corner did not lead to a winner. It was not to be, however, and when Mitoma’s cross flicked off Young and over Pickford the sense of disappointment around the stadium was clear. That frustration is progress.