Everton completed a league and cup double over Newcastle with a 1-0 Premier League victory at St James' Park on Monday night.
Everton had beaten the Magpies 3-1 in the Carabao Cup fourth round just four days earlier and followed that success with another impressive performance on Tyneside.
After a quiet first half, the visitors broke the deadlock four minutes after the restart. Tyrique George’s low effort slipped underneath Newcastle goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek, allowing Thierno Barry to react quickest and turn the loose ball into the net for his fourth Premier League goal of the season.
Moyes admitted beating Newcastle twice in such a short space of time was a difficult achievement but was delighted with his players’ commitment.
“They are so good in what they do as they give everything they’ve got,” the Everton manager said.
“They’re a brilliant group of players and they’ve had it tough as well. They want to keep winning and they’ve found it difficult with the way things have gone, but they’re pulling it out and doing their best to be in all the games.”
Moyes was particularly pleased with the result given the quality of the opposition and the challenge of securing another victory away from home.
“We beat Newcastle on Thursday night and to beat them again today is not an easy thing to do for any club at this level,” he added.
“To come here and get a good win tonight was a great result for us.”
The victory ended Everton’s three-game winless run in the Premier League and lifted them into seventh place. It was also their first away league victory of the campaign.
“We’ve actually done quite well in some of the games, getting draws in difficult away games, but we’ve not picked up a victory,” Moyes said.
“Last season we had a great run of results away from home, so I was hoping to pick it up tonight and thankfully we did. Clean sheet and got the goal that counted.”
Newcastle, meanwhile, were left to reflect on another disappointing performance as their poor run of form continued.
Manager Matthias Jaissle admitted his team had fallen well short of expectations and accepted responsibility for the defeat.
“We need to analyse that now in detail,” he said.
“It’s also clear that I have the responsibility and I also take that as the manager of this club, and we need to do things better.”
Jaissle was unhappy with Newcastle’s performance both with and without possession, particularly their inability to execute the pressing approach he had planned.
The home side’s frustrations were compounded late on when Jacob Ramsey received two yellow cards in quick succession and was sent off.
The defeat was Newcastle’s fourth in their last five matches, increasing the pressure on Jaissle as they slipped to 13th in the standings.
Everton, by contrast, climbed seven places to seventh and achieved a notable milestone by winning three consecutive Premier League away matches against Newcastle for the first time.
