David Moyes' honest assessment of the strength of what is now clearly the big three underlines why he feels this is about as good as it gets for Everton.

The Goodison Park boss was asked after this war of attrition whether he felt Everton could catch Chelsea for third place in the Barclays Premier League.

The question caught the Everton boss at a loss for words, and he eventually admitted it was something that had not really crossed his radar.

That is the reality of this battle for fourth spot in the top flight, and a chance to sneak into the Champions League.

Everton may well be unbeaten in the league this year, six games and 14 points from 18, but even Moyes had to admit the gap between the top three and the rest is alarming.

"Chelsea have much too quality," he said. "They are stronger. I am not really looking to catch them but it would be nice if it happened."

For a second or two Moyes was left dreaming. But it did not last and the task for the 'rest' of the top flight to get close to the elite is now his only real aim.

In truth he knew the football being turned out by his own battlers, now with a clear lead over local rivals Liverpool and the rest of the hopefuls like Aston Villa, Manchester City, Blackburn and Portsmouth, is in a different league to the top three.

This was an awful spectacle, not the sort of encounter the Premier League should be rushing to transport around the world in what many fans feel is an ill-conceived venture.

Moyes called this game "ugly, of Quasimodo proportions", and he was not wrong.

There were times when he may have doubted the wisdom of fining and dropping Ayegbeni Yakubu for his late arrival back from the African Nations Cup.

Everton needed goals and their top scorer was in the dog house. But few would doubt Moyes showed strong management and made the right decision. Yakubu will now sweat on whether he goes to Norway for the UEFA Cup match on Wednesday.

He did not miss much in this one, although if Everton do finish fourth come the end of term nobody will bother how they got these points.

Reading only started playing in the last 15 minutes when nerves got the better of Everton. Before that the hosts had won the trench warfare with Phil Jagielka heading his first league goal for the club.

His defending at the other end was equally impressive. And he summed up the attitude perfectly, saying: "It was a real battle, a hard game.

"They have struggled recently so we knew they would give it everything, particularly with them without an away win so far this season in the league.

"It wasn't very pretty but we got the points and that is what mattered.

"I was sure I was onside (for the goal). I was aware of a lot of bodies all around me and I was just trying to get it on target. As long as it went in I didn't really care.

"It was a scruffy game, and the turning point was James Vaughan coming on. He has such great enthusiasm, he was fantastic and lit the place up."

He added: "We are not bothered about other results, we can't do much to influence them. Obviously it is good when sides around us lose, but that is not happening so we have to keep going.

"We must concentrate on keeping our momentum going. The longer that happens, the closer we will get to our goal.

"The gaffer gave us a kick up the bum at half-time, we needed it and we went out after the break determined to get the points.

"It's an important week now ahead of us, we have the UEFA Cup tie to face and we must keep our form going in Europe too. This is becoming a very good season so we do not intend to throw it all away now we are so close to our objectives."

Reading boss Steve Coppell could not raise even half a smile after his side's seventh successive league defeat and first visit to the bottom three.

He said: "The goal was our fault because when we cleared the corner we did not close up properly or get the ball away far enough.

"We did not come out of defence in unison, that was pretty obvious, and it cost us.

"It was not offside, but we had plenty of chances ourselves to get something from the game."

Moyes was just happy for a professional, organised display from his side.

He said: "It was an ugly win, but there were times when we played well. I told the lads they had to do better, but on a very difficult pitch we got the result we needed."

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