Revival might be a touch premature but Norwich City may settle for some respite after a bruising Premier League spell.

You do wonder quite how Dean Smith and his players have been able to withstand the constant drip of negativity. Ignore the noise is easier said than done when some elements of your own fan base have seemingly given up hope.

When mitigation, in the form of a lengthy list of absentees either side of the festive period through injury and illness, is dismissed as excuses there appears little room for manoeuvre.

When you are ridiculed, derided and labelled an embarrassment there must come a point when enough is enough.

Everton was a tipping point. Or a breaking point for their now dethroned boss Rafa Benitez. The toxicity washing down from the away end in the direction of the Spaniard put into stark focus whatever frustrations a minority have expressed on the road at Crystal Palace and Charlton recently pale in comparison.

Smith stuck up for his players in the face of what he felt was a ‘sarcastic’ undertone, but then sought to renew his appeal for unity on the eve of this battle.

That old debate about whether it is players who need to lift the fans or vice versa had long been settled on a desperate league run. City’s support needed a spark. They got it in a committed offering which suggested Smith’s squad still believe. Maybe that was fuelled by a desire to silence the doubters and to prove they can compete at this level.

Plenty will still opt to dissect this precious victory as rooted in Everton’s own shortcomings, given the Toffees wretched run of form and a downward descent. That would be to cheapen how good the Canaries were. The energy, the quality, the intensity of a first half which saw them score twice in two minutes, after eight goals in the previous 20 league games, was matched and arguably topped by the defiance they displayed following the break.

Once Richarlison’s superb overhead kick had given Everton a lifeline the stage was set for the final 30 minutes.

Norwich would either fold, as they had done far too compliantly at previous points on this journey, or they would stand and trade. They did the latter, they put bodies on the line and sweat into the shirt. When they looked to be creaking they were propped up by a raucous din from the home support, who realised in a season of defining moments this was one.

To have succumbed after going 2-0 up would have constituted as big a missed opportunity as failing to press home their numerical advantage at Newcastle United. The final whistle brought hugs and cheers, and Max Aarons propped on crutches saluting the home fans. It signalled a dash for the dressing room from Tim Krul, clutching his injured right shoulder.

That was the level of commitment it took to grind out a Premier League win which moved Smith’s team above both Newcastle and Burnley, and a point behind Watford, with the Hornets scheduled to travel to Burnley in midweek.

Can you imagine the tremors Norwich’s win will have generated among those who already consigned them to the Championship? The path to safety is still devilishly tough, and all that lost ground and a horrendously negative goal difference may still prove too much to claw back. But in re-producing the level Smith was able to command in his first two home games as City boss there is now at least a glimmer of hope.

Plenty will have scoffed when the head coach’s response to leading questions on strengthening his roster in this month's transfer window was to put his faith in getting injured players back. That does nothing to alter the narrative City have given up or are hard up or both. But after Adam Idah’s breakthrough week there is another strand to Smith’s internal makeover.

If his show of faith in the 20-year-old forward can harness the output of his Everton display on a consistent basis it will feel like a new signing.

Idah is now a Premier League goalscorer, and the confidence coursing through his veins is a commodity the City chief must retain. That maiden top flight goal almost came at Vicarage Road towards the end of the last failed Premier League season, when he stabbed wide from close range in a 2-1 defeat.

He will return this week with the air of a player who on the evidence of the last two starts believes he now belongs in this company. It will take more days like Everton for Idah and his team mates to convince they do too.