By a quarter to five the mood at Goodison Park had grown ugly, the faithful starting to vent their frustration that the home side had seemingly thrown away victory after dominating the game for so long. Three minutes later they were cheering their team off as though they never doubted, Everton having contrived to provide us with a dramatic finish that saw them score two goals in stoppage time and give them their fourth win on the trot.

The first came when Liam Ridgewell made a poor clearance from a corner, which landed at the feet of Lee Carsley lurking outside the box and he banged in a rare goal, even though Maik Taylor appeared to get a hand to his shot. A minute later, a clearance from Taylor reached Carsley well inside his own half and the midfielder produced a huge header that sent James Vaughan through to finish low past the goalkeeper. On the balance of play Everton deserved it, but David Moyes must have been wondering why they had to put him through such agony to achieve it. “I hadn’t settled for one [goal] because I think that would have been unjust on us,” Moyes said. “We showed great character and stuck at it. The ball was due to turn for us at some point.”

On seven minutes Yakubu came close to scoring after Alan Stubbs surged forward and then played a surprisingly subtle ball to the left to Steven Pienaar, who crossed low, but Yakubu was unable to control his sliding finish under pressure from Taylor and the ball ballooned over. Within three minutes he had made amends with Pienaar again the provider after switching wings. He played a quick one-two with Mikel Arteta that gave him a huge amount of space near the byline and Yakubu had an easy tap-in from another low cross.

Everton squandered a number of excellent chances. Yakubu caught Djourou in possession on the edge of his own box, and had he controlled the ball more tightly, he would have had a clear shot, but Taylor was again able to smother the danger and Carsley then sidefooted at the goalkeeper when presented with a golden opportunity by Arteta on the edge of the box.

As the half progressed Birmingham started to find some rhythm, but only had an effort by Olivier Kapo, well saved by Tim Howard diving low to his left, for their efforts.

Having been guilty of standing off their opponents, Birmingham came out in the second half snapping into tackles and Everton were knocked out of their stride. They were further shaken by some indecision at the back, where Cameron Jerome was enjoying success from long balls, amid confusion between Howard and his centre-halves, as to whether he should be coming off his line.

Still, they were creating little and Carsley might have scored a rare goal when his speculative first-time shot from 30 yards landed on the roof of the net. Birmingham have managed a goal a game so far this season, and finally it seemed they had received just reward for their honest endeavours, albeit with a slight hint of good fortune. On 79 minutes, Gary McSheffrey produced an excellent inswinging corner from the right into the six-yard box. Kapo outjumped Phil Neville and his header then bounced off the defender and into the net.

Birmingham seemed to have done enough but they reckoned without two inspired moments from the unlikely Carsley. Certainly the west Midlands club could have done with a fillip after the events of the last week, when it emerged that the brother of their Honduran midfielder Wilson Palacios, Edwin René, had been kidnapped back at home. Palacios, who has made a big impact at the club, wasn’t considered yesterday.

“They’re eight hours behind and he’s spent most of his time on the phone trying to catch up on what’s going on,” Steve Bruce said. “He hasn’t had much sleep in the last two or three days so we thought it better to leave him out completely.”

Edwin René’s kidnappers spoke on Friday to Wilson’s brother Milton for eight minutes, during which time he was able to talk to Edwin René, who told him he was okay, eating a little and feeling nervous. The family does not want to reveal the sum of money the kidnappers have demanded.

Star man: Steven Pienaar (Everton)

Player ratings:

Everton: Howard 5, Neville 6, Stubbs 6 (Jagielka 22min, 5), Yobo 5, Lescott 5, Carsley 8, Osman 6 (Vaughan 80min), Pienaar 8 (Gravesen 85min), Cahill 6, Arteta 8, Yakubu 7
Birmingham: Taylor 5, Kelly 6, Djourou 6, Ridgewell 5, Schmitz 6, Larsson 5 (O’Connor 52min, 6), Nafti 6 (McSheffrey 71min), Muamba 6, De Ridder 7 (Forssell 79min), Jerome 7, Kapo 7