THIS doubtless will not be the only time that a reject from the Manchester City revolution has lobbed up at a not-so-wealthy neighbour and instantly reinvented himself. Having scored a solitary league goal in his time at City, the Brazilian striker Jo — who was signed from CSKA Moscow in the summer for £18m — doubled that total in his first appearance in an Everton shirt since coming on loan from City, and he also won the penalty that allowed Mikel Arteta to open the scoring. Jo milked the adulation of the Everton fans at the end, throwing his shirt into the crowd as he left the pitch, but even he would acknowledge that a feeble Bolton side had handed him his moment of glory on a plate.

With their striker shortage as pronounced as ever - their record signing Marouane Felliani a casualty from the midweek victory over Liverpool in the FA Cup and Victor Anichebe still an outcast after clashing with David Moyes - the manager had little choice but to give a full debut to Jo, despite the Brazilian’s lack of match practice. It also gave an opportunity for the 19-year-old hero from the midweek FA Cup game Dan Gosling, who was given a starting berth on the right side of midfield. Moyes’ worries paled when compared to that of Gary Megson, who was only able to name six substitutes and was forced to line out with their reserve centre half Andy O’Brien at right back and Gretar Steinsson pushing up to midfield.

Not surprisingly it was down their left flank that Everton focused their attacks and eventually made their breakthrough. That should have come as early as the second minute when the Everton left back Leighton Baines whipped in a low cross to the feet of Cahill, who looked certain to score from four yards, but allowed the ball slide off the side of his foot and go wide. Despite their mid week exertions, Everton looked far sharper and Jo quickly had a couple of good opportunities. Firstly he skied the ball over the bar when given a half chance on the penalty spot and he then was set up with a typical piece of aerial artistry from Tim Cahill. Cahill turned an aimless clearance to the half way line into a great goalscoring opportunity with a flick of his head, the ball landing perfectly in the path of Jo, whose first touch took him past Cahill, but whose third or fourth saw him screw the ball well wide. Other figures in blue were also profligate but just as the Goodison crowd were growing restless, their side took the lead.

Jo was the creator, if that is the word for being tripped in the box by a clumsy tackle from O’Brien, which was penalised by a spot kick on 39 minutes. Everton’s master craftsman Arteta made the penalty look simple, sheer pace taking the ball past Jaaskelainen.

Everton should have been out of sight by half time, having missed another couple of chances before the break, but the match was sealed on 49 minutes by Jo’s debut goal.

It came from a hoik forward from Phil Neville. Jo had the strength to hold off the challenge of Gary Cahill and pull the ball down with his right foot. As he did so, the ball came off Cahill’s chest and landed in the penalty area where Jo was first to the ball with his speed of movement and he smashed the ball past the unprotected Jaaskelainen.

Content with their lot and with Bolton incapable of mounting a serious threat on goal, the game started to peter out and was only briefly revived in the last minute when Gosling’s cross was handled in the box by on the edge of the box by Mark Davies.

With Arteta and Everton’s other precious assets off the pitch at that stage, up stepped Jo to score from the spot.

“You cannot defend the indefensible. It was a shocking performance,” a quietly fuming Gary Megson said afterwards. “If we continue to play like that we will definitely be relegated.”

Star man: Jo (Everton)

Yellow cards: Everton: Hibbert Bolton: M Davies

Referee: P Walton

Attendance: 33,851

EVERTON: Howard 7, Hibbert 6, Lescott 7, Jagielka 6, Baines 7 (Yobo 81min), Gosling 7, Arteta 7 (Van Der Meyde85min), Neville 6, Osman 6, Cahill 7 (Rodwell 77min), Jo 7

BOLTON: Jaaskelainen 6, O’Brien 5, Cahill 5, Puygrenier 5 (Basham60min), Samuel 5, Steinsson 4, M Davies 5, Muamba 4 (Smolarek 60min), Taylor 4, K Davies 4, Makukula 4 (Riga 82min)