Republic of Ireland defender Jake O'Brien earned the praise of his manager David Moyes after a rare appearance helped Everton to a much-needed win over Tottenham.
While O'Brien has started three games for the Toffees in cup competitions, the Cork native had made just a trio of cameos off the bench in the Premier League since signing from French top flight side Olympique Lyonnais last summer.
But a first start in the English top tier saw the 23-year-old play his part as Everton raced into a three-goal lead by half-time at Goodison Park, before holding on for a 3-2 victory over visiting Spurs to give themselves more breathing room in the battle against relegation.
O'Brien had amassed less than 45 minutes of league action before the much-needed victory, but lasted for 88 minutes against Spurs before being replaced by Michael Keane. The three-time Ireland cap ultimately impressed Moyes in the manager's second match of his second spell back on Merseyside.
"We wanted to have a look at Jake [O'Brien]. We've not really had a chance to see him," he told evertontv.
"The big thing, the strongest point of the team has always been defensively, but I thought Jake would maybe give us a chance to build a little bit better when we've got the ball, which might free us up a little bit if we can work it.
"I think for long periods it did quite well. For Jake it was about getting as much of a 90 minutes as we could out of him because he's not played so much but I thought he came through quite well and did a lot of things."
O'Brien, a centre-half by trade, nominally started on the right of the back four, with Ireland and Everton captain Seamus Coleman currently sidelined and fellow right-backs Ashley Young and Nathan Patterson on the bench.
With Jesper Lindstrom at times drifting into a wing back position on that flank, Moyes added that he was keen for O'Brien to often occupy the right full-back slot.
"We didn't want (Lindstrom) to be an out and out wing-back, we wanted Jake sometimes to be right-back and on the build, a bit wider, so we tried to get Jesper in two or three different roles - but I thought defensively for us he did a pretty good job as well. I think he showed a little bit of grit about his game."
