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The versatile England international, a half-time replacement for Tony Hibbert, was involved in all three of the Merseysiders' second-half goals - and injected some much-needed energy into the third-round tie after a dreary first 45 minutes.

Although man-of-the-moment James McFadden scored two second-half goals before setting up Ayegbeni Yakubu for a late third, Moyes felt former Manchester United defender Neville was the game's outstanding player.

"I thought the difference was Phil Neville," he said.

"His appearance at half-time made all the difference to the team.

"He was excellent tonight at right-back; the crosses he put in and his ability to get forward and join in were excellent.

"I think he and 'Faddy' [McFadden] were involved in all the goals. Right-back always was his position, but we need him to do more jobs.

"That's certainly the case with the injuries we've got right now.

"Right from the opening minute of the second half, he made the difference. I think we all went 'This is great'"

Moyes added McFadden was giving him a welcome selection headache up front at the moment, but spared a few kind words for Coca-Cola Championship strugglers Wednesday.

"You can certainly see he's [McFadden] got confidence, and I've been saying all along that people read into things an awful lot about who my strikers are going to be - but he's right up there with the others," said the Toffees boss.

"He's competing with the others and scored two goals - which is great.

"I would say though that Sheffield Wednesday gave it a real go tonight and were difficult opponents.

"Sheffield Wednesday's a terrific football club, a 'Premiership' club - and to come here and win was never going to be an easy task.

"You only need to look at some of the results tonight already - it doesn't matter who you play; it's never easy winning."

Owls boss Brian Laws insisted there were plenty of 'positives' to take from his side's performance - and that the scoreline was harsh on his hard-working players.

Laws said: "It's disappointing, because it really doesn't reflect the true story.

"I'm sure Everton are delighted to win the game and get three goals, but it's hard on us because for 75 to 80 minutes we were right in the game.

"First half, we looked comfortable; we didn't look under pressure and we looked like we could hurt Everton at times. But we chose the wrong pass at the wrong time and didn't quite get to manufacturing a clear-cut chance.

"But I can also take some 'positives' out of the game. The players are coming back to the quality I know they can produce.

"There's certainly no disgrace in getting beaten by a Premiership side, who I believe will be one of the top six."

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