Everton put behind their disappointment of an opening day defeat with a narrow 2-1 victory over newly promoted side West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

Leon Osman put the Toffees ahead five minutes past the hour mark while Ayegbeni Yakubu provided some cushion by doubling the lead in the 76th minute. West Brom threatened to snatch a point when the reduced the lead through Roman Bednar in the 89th minute but Everton hung on to register their first win of the new season.

West Brom were keen to improve on their performance against Arsenal from last weekend and started the game strongly, dominating the possession in the first half. With his squad woefully short of quality, Everton manager David Moyes gave a full debut for 16 year old Jose Baxter while Phil Neville took the field in spite of being short of full fitness.

Even though the hosts had the lion's share of the possession, they were unable to create any real chances with Everton keeper Tim Howard not having had to make a save until the 18th minute when he caught Robert Koren's low shot.

The visitors hung on to their clean sheet and took the lead against the run of play in the 65th minute when Osman raced forward to meet Arteta's through ball before slotting it past the West Brom keeper to score his first goal of the match.

Everton tightened their grip on the result when Yakubu doubled the lead 14 minutes from time, latching on to a long ball from Joleon Lescott before heading it into the net. West Brom had a glimmer of hope in the 89th minute when Bednar converted from the penalty spot but Everton hung on to claim all three points from the clash.