Perhaps it is because I grew following Fulham from well outside London, but I still feel like you can’t beat a good away day. Saturday was no different. A trip to Liverpool, where there’s history, music and plenty of inviting hostelries on offer, was perfect and it immediately reminded us of that wonderful day when Marco Silva’s side dismantled the Toffees to end a five-match winless streak in April. The Whites might not have supplemented their squad in the manner that Silva sought over the summer but the quality of last season’s football meant the black and white army made the journey to Merseyside in good heart.

Somewhat preposterously for those of us who followed Fulham’s pre-Josh Maja struggles to win on the blue half of Merseyside, the Whites came in hope of a third consecutive victory at Goodison Park. The sun shone, in defiance of a weather forecast that promised much more rain than actually fell and after celebrating the Lionesses’ progression to the World Cup semi-finals, I sauntered through Stanley Park excited at a first chance to see Silva’s side in competitive action for a few months. The teamsheet that dropped at the same time offered a couple of surprises: Tim Ream was back at the heart of the defence before Calvin Bassey’s excellent pre-season, Tom Cairney lined up in the number ten role and Raúl Jiménez got his Fulham debut ahead of Aleksandar Mitrovic, who began on the bench.

The first half was the sort of nervy affair we’ve become used to watching when following Fulham to Goodison Park. Where the Whites looked ponderous and, in some cases, very rusty, Everton were eager and full of power. Sean Dyche’s flooding of the midfield not only blocked off the spaces into which we were looking to pass but posed problems going the other way as well. Fortunately, Everton’s best chances fell to people who had forgotten their shooting boots. Frank Lampard famously persuaded Neal Maupay to pick the Toffees over Fulham and the Frenchman wasted a golden chance to give the hosts the lead inside the first 50-odd seconds before Bernd Leno made the first of several superb saves to thwart Abdoulaye Doucoure.

The Evertonians, including Dyche, were very vexed about the decision to disallow Michael Keane’s ‘goal’ for a foul on Leno by James Tarkowski. The pundits have become particularly exercised about this, but he had no intention of playing the ball, which then struck his hand, and rebound to Keane, who was in an offside position. There has been next to no analysis of Tarkowski’s other handball – when he blocked a goalbound shot from Mitrovic – and it can’t be because there is a lack of column inches to devote to the return of Premier League football. Still, Fulham were fortunate to be level at half time.

Silva’s side had played plenty of pretty, passing football, but lacked any vitality in the final third. Everton stifled the creativity of the Fulham wingers, whilst Cairney and Jiménez, didn’t exactly gel in their first 45 minutes. The head coached hooked Willian at half time and the introduction of Bobby Decordova-Reid was a masterstroke. Our brilliant Bobby Dazzler has made a virtue of being ready to fill any role within the team and it was very fitting that he finished off a flowing move that also involved two other substitutes, Andreas Pereira and Mitrovic. The three of them enlivened Fulham to such a degree that we briefly looked like killing the game off, with Decordova-Reid and Mitrovic spurning good chances to double the lead.

It was a testament to how Fulham’s dictation of the game had improved, with Sasa Lukic having a very good second half, that Everton’s prolonged spells of pressure produced little in the way of clear cut chances. The biggest let off came when Nathan Patterson, who had lost Decordova-Reid for the Fulham goal, smacked a follow-up against the crossbar when it looked easier to score after Leno had palmed away Alex Iwobi’s effort. The moment where my heart sunk was seeing Mitrovic on the floor in the Everton box minutes after his arrival – but we’ve now learned that was just an ankle sprain.

In stark contrast to how the match started, with Tim Ream making a succession of errors that led to Everton openings, Fulham saw out the six added minutes with little drama. Issa Diop and Ream improved as the afternoon went on – as did the whole of the team – and we were able to serenade man of the match Leno with his song after the final whistle. There was no doubt this was a gritty, and undeserved away win, but I’ll happily endorse further Fulham robberies over the course of the season. Good sides win when facing adversity and this particular victory will do plenty for the squad’s confidence. As someone who has had to take solace in other aspects of a weekend following Fulham away, I’ll never sniff at returning to London with three points in the bag.