Everton got their first Premier League win of the season with a 2-0 win at Birmingham City in a dreary match settled a Roger Johnson own-goal and a late header from Tim Cahill.
Johnson put past Ben Foster early in the second half while Cahill sealed the win with a trademark finish after good work from Leighton Baines in a match of little quality.
The result ends Birmingham’s remarkable run at St Andrew's - it is their first home defeat in over a year, with both halves greeted by jeers from the home support.
The first half was an eyesore, with the ball largely avoiding the ground as the home side sat deep and looked for counter-attacks as Cameron Jerome ploughed a lonely furrow up front.
Opportunities were few and far between, as the only genuine chances came from two mistakes at each end that really should have been punished.
The first farcical incident saw a dreadful defensive header from Sylvain Distin played backwards into his own box, with Jerome guilty of a howling miss as he put it wide with only Tim Howard to beat.
Within a minute Everton spurned a gift of their own, as first Stephen Carr and then Johnson contrived to play Ayegbeni Yakubu in, with Johnson kicking air and landing on his backside as Yakubu dithered with the goal at his mercy: Liam Ridgewell was able to clear behind.
The last quarter hour of the half drifted into a dirge and the break could not come too soon as a chorus of boos rang out at St Andrew's.
The second half started little better and it was inevitable that the breakthrough would come from a defensive error: eight minutes in, Leon Osman put in a low cross from the left that Ben Foster had easily covered only for the hapless Johnson to divert the ball past his own keeper into the bottom left.
As expected, Birmingham upped the ante but they did not up the quality, typified by the succession of dour crosses and long balls easily fielded by Howard.
Nikola Zigic was brought on for the ineffectual Keith Fahey, with the giant Serb striker an immediate target for the otherwise directionless aerial balls.
Birmingham suddenly had a focal point to their attack, as Zigic nodded an Aleksandr Hleb cross into Lee Bowyer’s path, only for the midfielder’s bicycle kick to fly just over.
With 10 minutes remaining the cautious nature of both coaches was further reinforced by some negative substitutions.
Everton, in an attempt to protect their lead, took off their only striker Yakubu for a defender, John Heitinga. Birmingham, meanwhile, replaced like for like in taking off Jerome for fellow forward Matt Derbyshire.
The hosts saw more possession as Everton retreated deeper and deeper but they created little, with Derbyshire guilty of penalty-box panic when he raced in on the left only to blast what was neither a shot nor a cross yards high and wide.
There was a brief and far too rare show of skill from Hleb late on, but his cut back did not match the dribble and Heitinga hoofed to touch.
Deep into injury time and with Everton playing keep-ball deep on the left wing, Baines showed rare attacking intent, turning Carr inside and out before smashing a superb cross into the six-yard box that Cahill dived in to crash a header off the bar to seal the victory.
Everton move off the foot of the table after the win, while Birmingham stay 12th.
Team Line-up:
Birmingham: Foster, Carr, Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Larsson, Ferguson, Bowyer, Fahey, Hleb, Jerome; Subs: Taylor, Murphy, Phillips, Derbyshire, Michel, Zigic, Jiranek
Everton: Howard, Neville, Distin, Jagielka, Baines, Coleman, Fellaini, Arteta, Osman, Cahill, Yakubu; Subs: Mucha, Hibbert, Heitinga, Bilyaletdinov, Beckford, Gueye, Barkley
