COMMENT: Fledgling Fellaini is starting to find his feet at Everton

When Walter Smith made the £1.9million acquisition of Lee Carsley - a player who had suffered relegation with his previous two clubs Blackburn Rovers and Coventry City - as one of his last acts as Everton manager in February 2002, surely nobody could have predicted just how hard it would be over six years later to replace the Republic of Ireland international anchor man.

But the subsequent chase over the following months for midfield reinforcements that never materialised, such as Portuguese duo Joao Moutinho and Tiago plus Cameroon's Stephan M'Bia, left Evertonians wondering just how the gap would be plugged.

So when three months of fruitless searches that had begun with Aaron Ramsey's decision to join Arsenal instead of Everton was followed up by a flurry of transfer activity, everyone's hopes were pinned on Fellaini's broad but young shoulders.

It's hardly surprising when you look at the other new arrivals.

A shoulder injury cruelly curtailed Danish right-back Lars Jacobsen's Goodison career before it had even began, Ecuadorian Segundo Castillo, on-loan from Red Star Belgrade, was an unknown quantity, veteran understudy goalkeeper Carlo Nash might never get to play in a first team game and although immensely talented, Louis Saha came to Goodison with serious question marks over his long-term fitness.

But 'long-term' is exactly where Everton were looking when it came to eclipsing the £11.25million record they shelled out on Ayegbeni Yakubu a year earlier to secure Fellaini's signature.

It's certainly been a baptism of fire for him.

A debut at Stoke was a rude awakening to life in the Premier League for both Fellaini and Castillo and you have to wonder just how the former Standard player felt having to watch his new team-mates play and then lose to his former club in the first round of the UEFA Cup.

Yesterday's 2-2 draw with Newcastle completed a hectic seven- match schedule for Everton in the space of 21 days and considering the run was a period that would shape the club's season, things have generally not gone well with a Merseyside derby defeat on Fellaini's home debut sandwiched between exits in the Carling and UEFA Cups.

Fellaini should be judged on what he achieves at Everton in the years ahead rather than what he has done or not done in his first month at the club.

But despite more disappointment for the team as a whole yesterday, with a two-goal lead in one of the most one-sided half-hour periods of Premier League football so far this season having been surrendered, there was plenty of encouragement that Fellaini has started to find his feet.

Obviously, a first goal in the royal blue jersey will be a massive fillip to the lad's confidence, sticking out one of his telescopic legs to beat Shay Given, but Fellaini's general play suggests he is already starting to show glimpses of his huge potential.

Being a big man does not always guarantee that a player is good at heading but the Belgian uses his giant frame to good effect in the air and his passing was mostly crisp.

Given that Fellaini was included in a midfield that also contained Mikel Arteta, Steven Pienaar and Leon Osman he was asked to do the lion's share of the tackling and looked comfortable when asked to act as enforcer.

Although he only played a couple of years at the top in Belgium, Fellaini came to these shores already complaining about the treatment he received from referees back home but a third booking in his last three Premier League games suggests he will have to watch his discipline here, too.

With just the bread and butter of the league for Everton to play for between now and the New Year, Moyes is going to need the likes of Fellaini to settle in fast if his side are to climb the table and make a third successive season of European football at Goodison Park a possibility.

But if that is to be the case, and many in Belgian football who know Fellaini wouldn't bet against it, then at least those who were present yesterday will be able to say they saw his first Everton goal.