Late goals from Mikel Arteta and substitute Victor Anichebe gave Everton a well-deserved 2-0 victory at Nurnberg which maintains their control of UEFA Cup Group A.
Anichebe came on in the 75th minute and earned a penalty seven minutes later which was calmly converted by Arteta.
The 19-year-old sub then ended a strong run with the right finish from close range in the 88th minute to give the Toffees their second win in as many group stage matches.
Boss David Moyes made one change from the team that defeated Birmingham 3-1 in the Barclays Premier League last weekend.
Alan Stubbs was missing with a hamstring injury, so Joleon Lescott took his place in central defence and Nuno Valente started at left-back.
Andrew Johnson (ankle) and James Vaughan (thigh) had not travelled to Nurnberg, who were forced to replace the injured attacking duo of Angelos Charisteas (ankle) and Robert Vittek (knee).
The visitors almost grabbed a dream start as they hit the post after just 20 seconds.
The inspirational Arteta found himself with space on the right channel, forcing Jaromir Blazek into a spectacular one-handed save with his shot from 18 yards out.
The rebound landed to the feet of Tim Cahill, whose close-range effort was deflected against the left post.
Nurnberg's Ivan Saenko tried his luck from 25 yards, before a blunder from Lescott almost let the striker in again - but Tim Howard rushed out of his goal to avert trouble.
After Marek Mintal and Dominik Reinhardt misfired from long range, Everton launched another promising attack.
Leon Osman was put in the clear inside the right penalty area and delivered a superb pass to the middle - only for the ball to just evade Cahill, sliding in at the far post.
Peer Kluge almost gave the Germans in the lead when he rammed a powerful shot inches wide from 20 yards out.
Seven minutes later, on the half-hour mark, Reinhardt shot goalwards from an almost identical position on the right - but Howard did well to keep his effort out.
Nurnberg¦s defence continued to look shaky at times and they were exposed again in the 37th minute when Arteta and Cahill worked a tidy one-two combination with the 25-year-old Spaniard hitting the wrong side of the post with a shot which hit his team-mate's chest.
Only three minutes later, confusion reigned again in Nurnberg¦s box, with Ayegbeni Yakubu eventually steering the ball goalwards from six yards out - but Blazek was quick to react and jump on the weak attempt.
Three minutes into the second half, Mintal was denied by Howard, before Yakubu won a free-kick some 30 yards in front of the Nurnberg goal - but Arteta¦s deflected shot went narrowly over.
The classy Spaniard almost caught Blazek napping just four minutes later.
After outfoxing two defenders on the right wing, he surprisingly shot left-footed from the edge of the penalty box - and the Nurnberg goalkeeper needed two attempts to control the ball.
Even though the Toffees seemed to hold the upper hand, Nurnberg got closer to scoring as Kluge proved unable to control a right-wing ball which would have sent him clear.
With 15 minutes to go, Moyes took off Yakubu and brought on Anichebe - a move which was to prove crucial.
Less than eight minutes later he had been brought down in the box by Glauber, who was booked, and Arteta held his nerve to calmly beat Blazek with a shot to the top left corner.
Anichebe then crowned a spectacular cameo performance in the 88th minute when he stormed into the box from the right wing, evaded a challenge and beat Blazek with a low shot from a tight angle.
