Everton intensified their quest for European football with a hard-fought victory at Blackburn thanks to Tim Cahill’s 90th-minute winner. Three times the visitors took the lead and they became only the second team to defeat Blackburn at Ewood Park in a league game since the opening day of the season.

Victory for David Moyes’s team narrows the gap to Aston Villa, occupiers of the final Europa Cup place, to a single point for a few hours at least after spectacular strikes from Steven Nzonzi and Jason Roberts twice pegged them back.

In terms of recent form this was a case of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object but the entrance of substitute Yakubu Aiyegbeni a dozen minutes from the end proved crucial. First, he nodded in with his first touch and then squared for Cahill to guide in from a couple of yards.

This pair have been two of the form teams in the Premier League’s final straight – Blackburn holding Chelsea and Manchester United here recently and loath to give up a record of one defeat in 16 without a predictable scrap. Everton, catalysed by fresh legs since the turn of the year, were on a run of two league reverses in 20.

The Blackburn manager, Sam Allardyce, waxed lyrical about the miserliness of his side’s defence in his programme notes. Half-a-dozen clean sheets in their previous 11 matches and three in a row were, he reasoned, the blueprint for Rovers’ rise from the lower reaches of the table.

Yet they were breached with less than 300 seconds on the clock, after the indefatigable Cahill took down Diniyar Bilyaletdinov’s cross in the area, evaded one challenge from Gaël Givet and lost his legs to another from the recalled Ryan Nelsen. Mikel Arteta, hors de combat for such a long stretch of the season, rolled the ball in from the penalty spot to galvanise his side’s pursuit of seventh place.

Everton appeared on course to emulate the achievements of Manchester City and Tottenham here this season until, with 20 minutes remaining, Nzonzi unleashed a firecracker of a shot from 30 yards that fizzed across Tim Howard and into the roof of the net.

Moyes threw on Yakubu as a second striker and was rewarded when the striker glanced in fellow substitute Victor Anichebe’s flick-on and then set up Cahill’s decisive intervention. Another replacement Roberts had appeared to have ended Everton’s pursuit of seventh when he volleyed in on the run nine minutes from time.

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There was a time when Mark Hughes’s prowess in the transfer market and Benni McCarthy’s ability as a finisher went equally unquestioned. If the Welshman’s recent recruits during his time at Manchester City have drawn damning verdicts, Blackburn’s South African striker provided a reminder of his acumen during his time at Ewood Park.

Signed for £2.5million, McCarthy scored 18 Premier League goals in his debut season in England. That this was his first of the current campaign indicates the recent decline in his fortunes. That Rovers have not won since early November illustrates that they have fared no better in the absence of Hughes, who led them to three top-10 finishes. Hugo Rodallega deprived them of two points with a deserved equaliser.

The Colombian struck when he met Maynor Figueroa’s cross with an emphatic header. A similar display of composure in front of goal had been provided by McCarthy. He was denied a winner when Chris Kirkland blocked his overhead kick. The striker had deftly volleyed past Kirkland in more conventional fashion after Ryan Nelsen had headed Keith Andrews’s free-kick into his path.

Such an assured finish was at odds with the action that preceded it. In a farcical first few minutes, the sides almost traded own goals. Titus Bramble applied a touch to McCarthy’s teasing low cross which, while denying Franco di Santo a tap-in, almost produced the same outcome, as the Wigan defender came perilously close to scoring an own goal.

Then Bramble’s chip forward was misjudged by Christopher Samba, whose backward header made Paul Robinson first scurry back and then dive to claw the ball off the line.

Indeed, an afternoon of mishaps continued after McCarthy gave Blackburn the lead. David ‘Junior’ Hoilett may well have doubled their advantage had his shot not been deflected wide by the back of his unwitting team-mate Andrews.

It came in a half where Blackburn were the superior side. Wigan were in the ascendant afterwards and Rodallega earned their reward.

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