In isolation this was a decent point for Everton and a continuation of their very good form away from home this season.

It could have been three, too, substitute Alex Iwobi’s rising drive flashing over the crossbar as the clock ticked onto 90 minutes.

Fifteen matches on the road have yielded 30 points. Two per game.

Had that return been replicated across the entire campaign, Everton would be third tonight.

As it is, they stay eighth but on the coattails of the teams in front of them.

Tottenham, ahead of Everton only by dint of goal difference, come to Goodison Park on Friday.

Win that and Carlo Ancelotti’s team, who were missing a glut of senior players here, will close within four points of fourth place.

There was a Premier League debut for Nathan Broadhead late in the piece, the Welshman emerging from a callow bench, populated by one short of the nine permitted substitutes.

Five senior midfielders were ruled out, in addition to Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Calvert-Lewin is scoring for Everton at a rate of one every 1.63 starts this term. He would, perhaps, have been due one, here, then.

Carlo Ancelotti is optimistic the striker will return for Tottenham. Repeat the defensive discipline and industry employed against Brighton and, with greater cutting edge, there will be reason for encouragement.

Everton got behind Brighton for the first time on 29 minutes.

Richarlison, resisting a buffeting on halfway, turned a pass round the corner to send Seamus Coleman sprinting away from the desperately chasing Jakub Moder.

Tom Davies, in the middle, was keeping pace with his captain and, when the cross arrived, the midfielder’s header from the centre of the penalty box travelled wide of the far post.

Until then, Everton’s only attempt had come from the left boot of Ben Godfrey, the defender too sharp for Neal Maupay when a ball was cleared from Brighton’s box but seeing his effort land on the plastic sheeting covering banks of empty seats behind Robert Sanchez’s goal.

Perhaps Davies coming close got Brighton’s backs up, because within 60 seconds the ball was at the other end and destined for the back of Robin Olsen’s net.

Leandro Trossard, the skilful Belgian forward with a low centre of gravity, did the grunt work.

He sped down the right to cut-back a precise pass for Maupay, whose shot was deflected behind by a terrific block from Yerry Mina.

Brighton were seeing more of the ball and, by extension, the shot-count read in the hosts’ favour – 9-4 at half-time.

Only two of those were on target and the fact neither greatly bothered Everton goalkeeper Olsen was representative of the contest.

Everton’s three-man defence and generously-staffed midfield suffocated Brighton. The home team were forced wide, where visiting wing-backs Coleman and Lucas Digne were quick to the ball.

When crosses did arrive, it was Everton heads on the end of them.

Twice in the opening minutes – after Adam Lallana’s 20-yard strike was diverted behind – Everton won huge penalty-box headers: Michael Keane and Mina the men laying down a marker.

Leaving something on Olsen in the case of Mina – the friendly fire a by-product of Mina rocking back to clear a devilish in-swinging set-piece.

Brighton, in the form of Yves Bissouma, improvised in search of a breakthrough.

The Ivorian’s interception when Keane slapped a clearance sent the ball skywards, Bissouma’s eyes widening as he spied the opportunity to take on an overhead kick which landed on the roof of the net.

Everton’s industry was typified by one episode when James Rodriguez was bundled off the ball by Lallana, who transferred play to Maupay.

In the blink of an eye, Maupay was surrounded by three players – including James – and giving the ball to Gylfi Sigurdsson.

He found Coleman and charged forwards to the edge of the box where Sigurdsson, after gathering the return, wasn’t alone in thinking he was fouled.

Nothing given on that occasion but Everton had been awarded a free-kick in a similar position – 22 yards, or so, out – on 13 minutes; Coleman too strong for Lallana and Bissouma before being checked by Molder.

James, however, sent the ball too high to disconcert Sanchez, who would soon come close to mastering his own downfall.

The Spanish goalkeeper’s lax touch gave Richarlison a sniff and the clearance was suitably hurried.

Richarlison didn’t forget and made a habit of keeping Sanchez honest from there on.

Olsen’s only save of the opening half was straightforward enough, a hearty punch to deal with an acrobatic shot Welbeck battered into the turf after being picked out by Lallana’s flipped pass.

Maupay prodded wide, via a deflection, four minutes after the restart, and when Everton tried to counter from the resultant corner, only a Joel Veltman interception prevented Holgate’s pass from releasing Richarlison for an unencumbered run at goal.

Coleman scampered back to frustrate Welbeck when the forward was bracing himself to take aim after Lallana rolled a pass across the box.

Everton’s backline featured Holgate, now, and his header to pinch the ball off Welbeck’s head after Moder’s deep dross from the left was critical.

Holgate’s positional switch was born of necessity.

The corner, from Pascal Gross, was pulled back, outside the box, where Moder arrived to smash narrowly over.

Mina hurt himself challenging Maupay and was replaced by Iwobi on 57 minutes.

Coleman threw his body in the way of a Lallana strike with 20 minutes remaining – after denying Welbeck a second time – then promptly emerged as an attacking threat.

Hurtling down the right with Moder for company, Coleman applied excellent close control to escape his man and float a pass into the middle for James.

The Colombian’s footwork was equally good but Sanchez beat out the shot.

Welbeck thought he’d got the better of Godfrey when engineering space in the penalty area with 15 minutes remaining.

Godfrey’s agility won the day, however, and the centre-half got plenty on his block.

Brighton evidently fancied they could convert one point into three.

Maupay toe poked over following a low cross from Bissouma and a deflection prevented Torssard from testing Olsen.

Olsen was required when Lewis Dunk helped on a Lallana header with one of his own.

It was looping and travelling underneath the bar before Olsen applied a fingertip.

Centre-half Dunk was back to the day job to get in the way of a stinging Sigurdsson volley, Davies first to the rebound but over from 25 yards.

Lallana was ushered in for an effort by Gross with two minutes remaining but couldn’t keep his strike down.

Iwobi was even closer soon after – the reaction from Everton's bench illustrative of how much they wanted those extra two points.

Holgate And Davies Pivotal For Blues

With Carlo Ancelotti missing five frontline midfielders it fell to the unfamiliar pairing of Mason Holgate and Tom Davies to fill Everton’s engine room.

The two Englishmen have history together after joining in the centre of the field when Everton went to Manchester United in the pre-lockdown phase of last season.

Davies and Holgate vied for man-of-the-match honours at Old Trafford and from the beginning here both men looked the part.

Holgate efficiently screened Everton’s back three, matching Brighton runners from deep and intercepting and prompting behind Davies and Gylfi Sigurdsson.

Davies, on the right of what was essentially a midfield diamond, with Sigurdsson on the left point and James Rodriguez at its tip, was comfortable and progressive in possession.

In the opening 10 minutes, home pair Jakub Moder and Yves Bissouma took it in turns to be outfoxed by Davies, allowing the ball to run across his body to move onto the front foot, away from his marker.

The spiky Holgate was lousy on himself for overhitting a pass for Richarlison but quickly regained his rhythm.

Holgate got after his opponents, annoying Adam Lallana by chasing down the former England player and forcing him to pass backwards.

The 24-year-old tracked opponents, following a dangerous Danny Welbeck surge into the box and going the full distance with Leandro Trossard when the home attacker dashed 40 yards to the byline, with the ball at his feet, soon after kick-off.

His positioning was excellent, Holgate consistently providing a barrier between Brighton’s midfielders and central striker Neal Maupay.

Holgate’s versatility proved very useful when Yerry Mina was hurt 12 minutes after half-time.

The Yorkshireman dropped into Everton’s back three, leaving Davies to occupy the holding role.

He performed it very well, hassling and covering and using the ball cleverly.

Davies’s reactions were fabulous to pounce on a ball spinning back off Lewis Dunk to gather and shoot from 25 yards.

The attempt was off target but spoke to the player’s confidence.