Sean Dyche says Dominic Calvert-Lewin successfully came through his return to action and can provide his Everton side a new dimension heading into the final games of the season.

The Blues earned what could prove to be a valuable point with a goalless draw at Crystal Palace's Selhurst Park, seeing out the final 10 minutes with 10 men after Mason Holgate was dismissed for a second bookable offence.

The south London clash saw the return of Calvert-Lewin after 10 games on the sidelines, with the striker completing 90 minutes before being withdrawn in second-half stoppage time.

Speaking to evertontv afterwards, Dyche says Calvert-Lewin's impressive comeback was the fruit of hours of hard labour behind the scenes on his fitness.

"Dom will get fitter and sharper but he's done great today," said the Everton boss. "We've protected him the best we can, we wanted him to be clear in his mind and he was today. 

"He's worked very hard and that will do him the world of good to lock that in.

"To be honest, we were looking at taking him off earlier as a precaution but because he looked a threat and because you're always thinking with striker's like him that something could drop in the box for him and he could score. 

"Even with 10 men he was doing a shift for us. He's a powerful boy so we wanted to leave him on as best we could. 

"The good news is we've got him through that - he's got through it and he's clear after the game."

On needing to be patient regarding Calvert-Lewin's recovery, Dyche continued: "The biggest thing from our point of view was to get him back as fit as he possibly can be. His stats haven't always been where they need to be on his journey back in - he's maybe been put in early or wanted to be put in early. 

"We've been as patient as we can with him and he's been terrific because it's not easy for him. 

"He's been working so hard and he just got a little niggle and we had to go back to the beginning and start the process again but he's worked really hard and I'm really pleased.

"It's a different process now because he's done a lot of work to make sure he's as strong as possible without playing the real stuff. Now we're layering up on it. He definitely looks after himself. He's a very good athlete. Now it'll be about recovery and recuperation so he's ready to go again."

The Toffees visited the capital looking to end the hosts' three-game winning run and produced two of the contest's best chances, with Alex Iwobi's venomous first-half volley well saved by Sam Johnstone and Calvert-Lewin's prodded effort flying agonisingly wide of the post after the interval.

Dyche praised both players' performances, while also hailing his side's defensive efforts to stop one of the Premier League's most in-form teams.

"I thought both players [Calvert-Lewin and Iwobi] were good today," said Dyche. "I thought Alex was trying to create and make things happen, not just with his energy but some of his quality at times.

"[Crystal Palace] are in form, they've been scoring and creating chances. I thought we kept that to a minimum today. 

"From our point of view, we opened up some moments, some key moments. They only really had one moment where Jordan makes a really good save and I thought [Pickford's] calmness was good today, delivering a really good, solid performance. 

"I was really pleased for him and the centre-halves, I must say, particularly when we went down to 10 men. Overall, I feel that we can play better, we can create more - but the basics and the ugly side of the game were intact and, while we came here to win, that got us a point."

Next up for Everton is the visit of Newcastle under the Goodison Park lights on Thursday evening (7.45pm BST) and Dyche has called on players and fans to produce another big effort.

"We've got to use everything we can, home advantage, the fans, the feel and everything we can give to the cause," he added.

"Doucoure is back and available [after completing a three-match suspension], Amadou Onana [who missed the clash with a groin injury] we'll wait to see, Dom [Calvert-Lewin] has got 90 minutes under his belt, the fans were amazing again. 

"I know I say it every week but they were - getting down here early and backing the team even in the warm-up. 

"It was an incredible effort and we're going to need that but we need to keep giving them something."