Just when you thought Wayne Rooney was growing up, he goes back to his roots. Surely he must have learnt to press the mute button when he returns to Goodison Park. But no; given a yellow card for a reckless challenge on Mikel Arteta, he reacted to the predictable abuse by provocatively kissing the crest on his United shirt in front of the fans at the Park End. Cue mayhem and an uncomfortable early afternoon for United.

Luckily, for both player and the authorities, referee Alan Wiley saw the incident and dealt with it sensibly. Equally reasonably, Rooney was substituted, for his own good, a few minutes later, his quest for a 100th career goal put on hold for another day, his sequence of scoring in seven successive games for club and country ending in a whimper.

Rooney was 23 on Friday and is an experienced international. Maturity should not be far distant, yet he and his teammates succumbed with surprising ease to the belated aggression of the home side, conceding a soft equaliser after 63 minutes, a close-range header by Marouane Fellaini, and allowing Everton back into a game that was gone in all but the scoreline by half-time.

Unusually for United, they preferred to tiptoe through the Everton defence in the first half when the home side were there for the taking. That might be the influence of Dimitar Berbatov, who likes a flick and a back-heel. Most of United’s possession was gifted to them by Everton’s reluctance to engage.

When Darren Fletcher, comfortably United’s best player, drifted unmarked into the penalty area to convert Ryan Giggs’s neat pass for the opening goal midway through the first half, it seemed just a matter of how hard United wanted to press the throttle. Goodison was strangely subdued, the usually raucous home fans outsung by the small United contingent penned into one corner. Lulled into a false sense of security, perhaps, United in general — and Rio Ferdinand in particular — needed to keep their discipline.

It was not just Rooney who lost control as Everton raised their game in the second half. After Phil Neville had caught Cristiano Ronaldo with his trailing leg, a legitimate tackle accorded a triple roll by the Portuguese, Ferdinand ran 50 yards to remonstrate with his former teammate, turning a piece of pantomime villainy into a potential turning point at just the moment United needed to defuse the rising tension.

Soon after, Fellaini, the £15m purchase from Standard Liege who had troubled United in the air all afternoon without picking up the pace of the game on the ground, rose to slide a neat header past Edwin van der Sar for his second goal in the Premier League. The routine nature of the cross and the header will be a concern for Sir Alex Ferguson.

United could easily have gone behind soon after as Ferdinand’s short backpass allowed Yakubu to accelerate into the area and curl a right-footed effort onto an upright via Van der Sar’s fingertips. United’s temporary disarray was epitomised by Nemanja Vidic’s flying headed clearance for a corner when no Everton player was anywhere near and by Wes Brown’s desperate tackle on Yakubu as United’s central defence was caught on the break. Given the current climate, the full-back was a touch fortunate to stay on the field.

If United were a changed side after the break, Everton were positively schizophrenic. Their teamsheet, with Louis Saha partnering Yakubu at the front, spoke of attacking intent; the reality was surprisingly devoid of purpose or passion.

Berbatov and Giggs drifted into the space nominally defended by Leon Osman, Ronaldo taunted Joleon Lescott down the United right, and but for the inspirational work of Phil Jagielka in the centre of the Everton defence and United’s profligacy, the game would have been buried by the time David Moyes had issued his half-time call to arms. Rooney and Giggs both had chances to increase United’s lead.

“We got after them in the second half,” said the Everton manager. “We deserved a point.” Ronaldo, though, should have wrapped up United’s seventh successive victory three minutes from time but shot wide from 12 yards. “The way we were playing and the way they were playing, that was as good as a win,” added Moyes. Ferdinand was still in debate with Wiley at the final whistle and strutted off in high dudgeon. Like Rooney, he should know better.

EVERTON: Howard 6, Neville 5, Yobo 5, Jagielka 8, Lescott 6, Arteta 6, Fellaini 7, Osman 5, Pienaar 5, Saha 4 (Anichebe 90min), Yakubu 6 (Vaughan 88min)

MANCHESTER UTD: Van der Sar 5, Brown 5, Ferdinand 5, Vidic 6, Evra 6, Ronaldo 6, Fletcher 7 (Tevez 78min), Giggs 7, Park 6 (Anderson 67min, 5), Berbatov 5, Rooney 6 (Nani 71min, 5)