By Danny Kelly IN THE minutes after their latest Houdini act, Everton's supporters turned the Goodison Park pitch into a sea of exultation. Hours later, they were still loudly celebrating in the streets of Liverpool. In the circumstances they are entitled to their unconfined joy, but in the weeks to come the full wretchedness of their season will become apparent. It's been a horror show and they've been lucky to survive. In many ways, this match summed up everything that's currently wrong with this once-great club. Everton sweated, huffed and puffed, but couldn't beat a Coventry team who, devoid of their usual last-day mission of avoiding the drop themselves, were some way short of full throttle. In the end, Everton, exactly as they were when pulling off a similar escape four years ago, were reduced to relying on the failings of others to preserve their long uninterrupted run in the top flight. The extraordinary support of their fans a frenzied shoal of blue shimmering in the strong sun was something to see and hear; the team are much less impressive. Howard Kendall, realising that a scrapped-for draw might well prove insufficient to provide salvation, picked three forwards in Nick Barmby, Mickael Madar and the fearsome Duncan Ferguson, and left the brooding Slaven Bilic on the bench in favour of the more attack-minded Gareth Farrelly. Within eight minutes, the young Irishman, only a second half sub during last week's caning at Arsenal, had repaid Kendall's faith and scored the goal that will win him a place among his club's immortals. Everton, harrying Coventry mightily in the early minutes, resorted to their favourite (and, to be fair, most promising) weapon, the hoofed bomb toward the redoubtable forehead of Ferguson. With Richard Shaw deciding to remain grounded, the big Scot cushioned his touch back to Farrelly, lurking outside the area in a space the size of his native land. An unstoppable right foot shot gave his team the start of their dreams. It was his first Premiership goal for Everton in 25 appearances; he may never score a better one; he certainly won't get one that's more important. Far from calming Everton nerves, the goal seemed to bring on an attack of the heebie-jeebies, with the lumbering defensive trio of Carl Tiler, Craig Short and Dave Watson taking it in turns to give the ball to a Coventry team that hardly raised a gallop in the first half. Yet it was the veteran Watson who very nearly put the result of this game, if not the whole relegation face-off, beyond doubt when his close range deflection five yards from the Sky Blues goal brought a stunning palm-away from the twisting Markus Hedman. That was the nearest Everton came to giving themselves a breathing space until ten minutes from the end of a second half that had seen the visitors up the tempo but still hardly threaten the home goal. Substitute Danny Cadamarteri, bursting into the area with typical energy, was felled by a tackle from Paul Williams. The penalty award was by no means cast-iron and certainly Bolton would have been demanding a stewards' enquiry if it had been the decision that sent them down. As it was, Hedman's excellent dive to deny Barmby's well-struck kick saved us all an inquest running into the early weeks of the World Cup. Everton fans may have been sensing that it was not, after all, to be their day. And that apprehension was turned into real fear with just three minutes left. A long cross found the head of Dion Dublin, ten yards out. The header was struck with the England hopeful's habitual precision, but neither its speed nor power should have been enough to beat Thomas Myhre. Yet somehow the Norwegian, despite getting both gloves to the ball, fumbled it over the line. The situation was now once again critical; despite news of Bolton's gentle subsidence at Stamford Bridge filtering around Goodison, another Coventry goal would see the Merseyside giants playing next season's local derbies not at Anfield but at Prenton Park. To the delirium of the crowd, the final whistle sounded without further misadventure. Reactions to what football clubs achieve are always coloured by what is actually expected of them. If Bolton had pulled themselves from the mire, they could rightly have proclaimed it a triumph. For Everton, there is no glory in a last minute reprieve when the hangman fails to turn up, just vast and palpable relief. Their fans should enjoy their joyous jig in the sun, but calmer heads will already be starting to worry about next August. Their limitations are plain. Old, immobile, central defenders, a midfield devoid of vision and a reliance for inspiration on one of the game's most troubled, unpredictable spirits. When Ferguson is out through (inevitable) injury or (even more inevitable) suspension, they look disjointed, unfocused, far short of a Premiership team; even with him, they are no match for those in the top half. Unless there are significant signings in the next ten weeks, and unless some of those already wearing the royal blue significantly up their contribution, then next season could easily become a repeat of this term's ugly struggle.

KENDALL VOWS: THIS WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN   EVERTON'S second heart-stopping escape from relegation in four years left Goodison boss Howard Kendall red-faced, flustered and determined never to put the club's anguished yet relieved followers through such last-day drama again. A delighted and determined Kendall emerged from an ecstatic dressing room to deliver his verdict on a season of torture and assure the blue army: I know what to do to put things right and I guarantee this will not happen again. That is not optimism, it is just being positive. Kendall, looking drained after enduring the most nerve-racking 90 minutes of his career, believes that he has learned from the experiences of the last 12 months and vows to restore Everton as a Premiership force. In addition to his message of hope to the fans, Kendall also had a few words of thanks for Gianluca Vialli and a statement of consolation for beaten Bolton boss Colin Todd. The Goodison chief had previously expressed concern about the quality of the team Chelsea boss Vialli would send out against relegation rivals Bolton, but after the Blues' 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge he said: I'll be sending a thank-you letter to Gianluca and a note of commiseration to Colin. Bolton have got a lot going for them and, despite the position they find themselves in, I believe Colin has done a tremendous job. They have been unfortunate on many occasions this season, and I honestly didn't think they would go down. Down they went, however, and now Kendall can look back on a day of drama one during which he experienced almost every conceivable emotion with a smile not a scowl. He wouldn't want to go through it again, though. Everything seemed to be going according to plan until Dion Dublin's late equaliser and Kendall remarked: That moment brought back memories of me trying to sign Dion for Everton and failing. I thought he had come back to haunt me. Thankfully he didn't, and I am just delighted for the players and the fans that we have Premiership football to look forward to next season. EVERTON: Myhre, O'Kane, Watson, Short, Tiler, Ball, Hutchison, Farrelly (McCann 90), Barmby, Madar (Cadamarteri 49), Ferguson Subs Not Used: Gerrard, Beagrie, Bilic COVENTRY: Hedman, Shaw, Burrows, Breen (Williams 51), Huckerby (Haworth 69), Whelan, Dublin, Telfer (Hall 89), Soltvedt, Boateng, Nilsson Subs Not Used: Ogrizovic, Boland Booked: Boateng, Huckerby, Williams Att: 40,109 Ref: PE Alcock (Redhill)

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