English FA Premiership: This time Tim Cahill resisted the temptation to lift his shirt over his head. Sent off against Manchester City two weeks ago for celebrating a goal in that fashion, the midfielder was more subdued after finding the net yesterday. It is safe to assume, though, that he felt like flinging his Everton top into the stand after his late strike maintained his team's remarkable start.

Cahill's header from a free-kick decided a poor match and took Everton, third in the Premiership, to within a point of Chelsea. The Australian made a light-hearted point of showing the referee, Dermot Gallagher, that he had kept his jersey firmly over his shorts after scoring.

This was the second match Cahill has won for Everton since his arrival from Millwall and he looks good value at £1.5 million. He epitomises what the club is about at the moment: hard work, discipline and a capacity to sneak up unnoticed and cause a surprise. With fresh investment imminent, allowing Moyes to strengthen his squad in January, the feel-good factor at Goodison Park is particularly pronounced.

Everton are grinding rather than gliding, but should not be criticised for that. Pre-season predictions had been of struggle and doom after a summer which saw boardroom squabbles, Wayne Rooney leave and Cahill become the only notable arrival. They will surely not stay in a Champions League qualifying spot, but their improvement is astonishing.

"It's the same group of players," Moyes said. "They probably didn't do as well as they could last season. They're full of confidence; that's the big difference."

He added a note of caution - "It's a flash in the pan, we'll see when it blows up" - and described himself as "a little bit surprised".

This was Everton's third successive 1-0 Premiership win, which indicates what their success is built on: resilient defence and a capacity to snatch goals. Moyes's team played with one man up front for almost an hour and may not possess great imagination, but they make up for that with organisation, aggression and huge effort.

If Cahill proved the hero, there were other key Everton figures against a disappointing Portsmouth. David Weir was excellent in a defence that made few errors and Lee Carsley did a fine job, snuffing out Eyal Berkovic such that the Israeli was withdrawn at half-time.

It was fitting that the winner came from a set piece, because neither side had seemed likely to break the deadlock otherwise. Portsmouth created little, even if Nigel Quashie hit a post.

Everton arrived with a plan to defend in numbers, leaving Marcus Bent alone up front, and tried to strike by getting forward from midfield. Twice they came close in the first half, with Steve Watson scraping a post and Bent wasting a chance.

They brought on Duncan Ferguson to form a two-man forward line on the hour, but still the game seemed to be drifting towards a goalless end until Cahill eluded Andy Griffin from Tony Hibbert's free-kick and headed past Shaka Hislop.

"I nearly did it again today," Cahill said of his shirt antics.

"I should have put my shirt over my head," Moyes said.

He can afford to laugh.