It may be fashionable to dismiss the new Leeds United as a bunch of kids sustained by the potent combination of youthful exuberance and arrogance but to so do would be ungracious in the extreme. It may also be tempting fate.
If David O'Leary's team can add resilience to their other laudable qualities, they have a real chance of breaking up the cartel which has formed at the summit of the Premiership in recent seasons.
Leeds's magnificent club-record sequence of 10 wins may have ended on a grey afternoon but an extraordinary game, which yielded lavish, unrelenting entertainment, was deep into stoppage time when Everton applied one last brush stroke to a canvas which had been plastered with rich colours.
"We played well going forwards but defended diabolically," said O'Leary. "Even so I am content. If we can win 10 and draw one of the next 11 fixtures I'll be very happy."
Goodison Park was sodden, a visible sheen of surface water helping to increase the tempo of a game which never lacked impetus and which never once threatened to surrender its irresistible rhythm.
Everton may lack depth and money but they currently boast an organisational sense which is the envy of many, a testimony to the ability of their manager Walter Smith to fashion something of worth out of base material of dubious quality. For an hour or more there was much to applaud about their football: plenty of light and shade, plenty of depth.
There were fine goals, too. Leeds fell behind after four minutes. John Collins' pass forward to Kevin Campbell was precise, accurate and weighted. Campbell's finish was even better, a swirling right-foot drive which drifted inside Nigel Martyn's far post.
Leeds were level, deservedly so, inside 10 minutes, Michael Bridges arriving unannounced at the far post to turn the ball home after Harry Kewell's cross had evaded countless legs.
Just before the half-hour the Leeds defence again parted to present Campbell with his second goal, a neat chip over the advancing Martyn after he had collected a Don Hutchison pass.
Fortune had favoured the artisans rather than the aristocrats, something which was to be reversed after 35 minutes when Kewell picked up a loose ball on the left touch-line some 40 yards from goal. It was a cross, it had to be, but nonetheless it went over Paul Gerrard and into the net.
Everton responded within three minutes, Hutchison's deflected shot giving them the lead for a third time. But Leeds's perseverance rarely goes unrewarded these days and a marvellous drive by Bridges and Jonathon Woodgate's fine header from an Ian Harte corner moved them in front for the first time.
And then came the improbable denouement, David Weir rising at the far post to head in a David Unsworth free-kick. All that and a smattering of controversy, too.
Smith, normally so mild mannered, was furious that the referee Dermot Gallagher had failed to dismiss Lucas Radebe for hauling down Hutchison as he shaped to race clear after 58 minutes.
"The referee had one major decision to make in the game but he didn't make it," said Smith. "I don't want to see players sent off but rules are rules. It was a crucial decision because it would have taken Leeds down to 10 men."
Everton: Gerrard, Ball (Johnson 79), Gough, Watson, Unsworth, Weir, Barmby, Collins, Gemmill (Pembridge 27), Hutchison, Campbell. Subs Not Used: Cadamarteri, Ward, Simonsen. Goals: Campbell 4, 28, Hutchison 37, Weir 90.
Leeds United: Martyn, Kelly, Harte, Radebe, Woodgate, Kewell, Bowyer, Batty, McPhail, Smith (Huckerby 67), Bridges. Subs Not Used: Hopkin, Haaland, Robinson, Mills. Goals: Bridges 15, Kewell 35, Bridges 67, Woodgate 72.
Referee: D Gallagher (Banbury).
