He might only have been plying his trade against lowly Sunderland (even their manager Ricky Sbragia  admitted that they were awful) but Steven Pienaar ran the show at the Stadium of Light on Sunday and picks up this week’s Footy Boots award.

The South African international, playing in Adidas F50.9 TUNiT’s, heaped more woe on the North East as he led Everton to a 2 – 0 win, Middlesbrough having previously lost at home to Manchester United on Saturday and Newcastle away to Liverpool on Sunday.

But to bang on about Sunderland’s lamentable display would be to take away from Pienaar and a tremendous man of the match performance.

Pienaar scored one and made one – his goal coming just after the restart as he was brilliantly played in by Jo. The Everton midfielder held off the challenge of Phil Bardsley before poking in what was just his second goal in 16 months.

The home side tried to get back in to it and picked up the pace (mind you, that wouldn’t have been too difficult as it was plainly pedestrian beforehand) but it was Pienaar who put them out of their misery. The 27 year old escaped down the right and his excellently weighted pass in to the box was coolly slotted home by Marouane Fellaini.

The win puts Everton back in to 5th place whilst leaving the Black Cats still looking over their shoulders, a mere 4 points above the drop zone.

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