The Everton boss had seen his side respond to a Charlton equaliser in the last minute through Darren Bent after Joleon Lescott had put the Toffees ahead with just nine minutes to go.

Substitute James McFadden popped up with a stunning winner, which leaves Charlton still in the bottom three.

Moyes sent on McFadden for his first game since January following a broken metatarsal.

Moyes said: "It was great for James to come off the bench and score the winner. It was a finely worked goal and the finish was outstanding.

"We fully deserved the win, we kept going, never did we change our system. It wasn't in doubt that we deserved this.

"We had to handle Darren Bent's pace. But I do not agree that Charlton deserved to win. It was just a bit to close for comfort."

He added: "The two substitutions worked well, Gary Naysmith was involved in the goal and James scored it.

"We are in a good position now with four games to go, there is a gap opening now between us and seventh spot. That is vital.

"We had to be patient and the lads kept doing the right things. We must keep going, not get too anxious, and we stuck to the task and fully deserved the win.

"Overall we were the better side and deserved the victory."

Charlton boss Alan Pardew felt his side deserved to win, saying: "People will look at the result and say that was expected, but we produced a display that tells a different story.

"We produced a tremendous effort, we are deeply disappointed with the second goal because we had got ourselves back into it and deservedly so, we deserved to win in.

"We had plenty of chances before they scored, and even at 1-1. We leave here disappointed but our spirit is intact because we put in a fantastic effort.

"It was a great display of diligence from us and the scoreline does not really reflect what really went on.

"The weekend results have not gone well for us, Sheffield United winning and Wigan getting a point, but we still know we put in a great display."

He added: "In the end it was a great piece of skill that beat us. The disappointment, though, is the result not the performance.

"If we continue to put in performances like that, so wholehearted, we are still in it as a force to be reckoned with.

"I will not need to lift my lads, all I will do is show them a video of the game and they will know they should have got something from it.

"It's obviously about results, but you must take positives from the performance as a team and individually.

"Everton are aiming for Europe and I do not think there was anything between us. We can still survive and we will take a lot of strength from this."