Cahill is back with a bang as Everton banish derby blues

Although goals from Tim Cahill and Leon Osman appeared to put Everton in control of their opening Group A game, it needed an opportunist's effort from substitute Victor Anichebe to settle their nerves after Brazilian forward Cleyton struck to threaten an unlikely Greek fightback.

That would have been unfair on Moyes who is clearly still smarting from the injustice of Saturday's defeat to Liverpool.

The Everton boss used his programme notes last night to hit out at Rafael Benitez and his players for their response to a series of hotly-disputed decisions by referee Mark Clattenburg.

"I've never known such widespread condemnation of a referee or his decisions in one game," fumed Moyes. "But some of the comments which came out from the opposition I regarded as a total cop-out."

If Liverpool's dismal display in Istanbul 24 hours earlier did not cheer Moyes up, then Cahill's opener certainly gave him something to smile about.

The Australia midfielder, who has not played since breaking his metatarsal in March, took just 14 minutes to remind Moyes how much he has been missed, beating goalkeeper Stefanos Kotsolis with a stooping header from Mikel Arteta's centre.

"We needed to get that goal and Tim's our Johnny on the spot," said Moyes. Having fed Arteta for the first, Osman finished a wonderful second five minutes after half time.

Having given former Everton striker Ibrahima Bakayoko and his team-mates hardly a sniff of goal all night, Everton suddenly switched off in the 64th minute.

Joleon Lescott was caught napping by Cleyton as he collected a throw out by Tim Howard and the Brazilian, who scored in both legs of Larissa's shock win over Blackburn in the knockout stage, skipped gratefully past Yobo and slid the ball under Howard.

"We scored a wonderful second goal and got a wee bit carried away," admitted Moyes. "We were comfortable at 2-0 and then one moment of madness made us feel uneasy."

Thomas Gravesen, on as a second-half substitute for Cahill, set up fellow substitute Anichebe five minutes from time.

The Dane's firm header put the striker through and Anichebe showed great strength to first knock former Newcastle defender Nikos Dabizas off the ball and then out-muscle Georgios Fotakis before sliding it under Kotsolis.

EVERTON (4-5-1): Howard; Hibbert, Yobo, Lescott, Baines; Arteta, Carsley, Osman, Cahill (Gravesen 65min), Pienaar; McFadden (Anichebe 65). Booked: Lescott, Yobo, Gravesen. Scorers: Cahill 14, Osman 50.

LARISSA (4-1-4-1): Kotsolis; Galitsios, Dabizas, Foerster (Venetis 79), Venetedis; Kyriakidis (Labropoulos 75); Parra (Kalantzis 58), Fotakis, Sarmiento, Cleyton; Bakayoko. Booked: Dabizas. Scorer: Cleyton 65.

Man of the match: Tim Cahill.

Referee: Martin Ingvarsson (Swe).