A late Dominic Calvert-Lewin goal enabled Carlo Ancelotti to open his Everton account with a win, which by the end of a long afternoon was all anyone in blue really cared about. The striker did not have the best of games, and this certainly was not the best of games, but three points and a second successive clean sheet while not playing all that well at least gives the manager something on which to build.

“In the end the performance was good,” was Ancelotti’s verdict. “Not top but good. We were a little bit slow from the back in the first half, not so efficient on the counterattack, but we defended well and got another clean sheet. It was a special day for me anyway because the reception was fantastic. The atmosphere in the Premier League has not changed and you can tell the people that come to this stadium enjoy watching football.”

Burnley were slightly unlucky to leave empty-handed after defending solidly for most of the game but after a late winner of their own at Bournemouth last week they know very well 0-0 is a dangerous scoreline and their attacking efforts did not amount to enough to earn a share of the points. Ancelotti stuck with Duncan Ferguson’s 4-4-2 for 80 tedious minutes and the breakthrough came when he sent on Moise Kean to give Burnley an extra man to worry about up front.

“We fell for the sucker punch,” the Burnley manager, Sean Dyche, said. “It was a really tight game but the goal we conceded was disappointing. We made a mistake trying to play football in our own half.”

Carlo Ancelotti celebrates the first goal of his Everton reign with his assistants Duncan Ferguson (right) and son Davide Ancelotti. Photograph: David Klein/Reuters

The most entertaining aspect of an unremarkable first half was Ancelotti’s range of shrugs, expressive gestures and eye-rolls on the touchline as he pondered some pretty ordinary football and probably started to wonder just how soon he would be able to lead Everton up the table.

Unfortunately this practised theatricality was mainly for the benefit of those watching on television. The spectators who had paid to get in had to be content with Everton’s attempt to copy Burnley’s tactics by humping the ball into the box at every opportunity, even though Calvert-Lewin is often a hesitant finisher and Bernard lacks the inches to fight for headers with such as James Tarkowski.

For most of the game Everton had more possession and shots on target than their opponents without putting Burnley under serious pressure. On the occasions when they did get close, through Mason Holgate in the opening minutes and Djibril Sidibé after half an hour, Nick Pope was equal to the task of keeping out goal-bound efforts.

What Everton need, if they are going to persist with the aerial approach, is a big centre-forward in the Chris Wood mould, although when Ashley Westwood picked him out with a well-flighted free-kick the Burnley striker reached the ball before any of the home defenders but put his header well over the bar.

When the second half began Wood showed tenacity in beating Yerry Mina on the floor, only to find no one on the end of his cutback across the face of goal. When a Fabian Delph cross reached Calvert-Lewin a couple of minutes later he was unable to generate sufficient power in his header to trouble Pope. Likewise when a Gylfi Sigurdsson free-kick arrowed its way on to Mina’s forehead midway through the second half – can you see a pattern developing here? – the Burnley goalkeeper was able to save quite comfortably under his bar.

Kean was given a rousing reception when he came on for the last 13 minutes but was still searching for his first meaningful touch of the ball when Everton broke the deadlock. Séamus Coleman had nearly given Everton the lead by rejecting the crossing option and making his own way into the box, only to run out of confidence in his own shooting ability and allow Burnley to clear.

Finally when Dwight McNeil lost possession Sidibé hoisted one more cross from the right and Calvert-Lewin was able to meet it cleanly near the penalty spot. He ran between the Burnley centre-halves and glanced a header in the one place Pope could not reach to score via a rebound off the goalkeeper’s right-hand upright.

“Dominic is a fantastic striker in my opinion, very good in the air,” Ancelotti said. “Where he might improve is in movement without the ball, he has to be more focused on the goal. He is very generous in moving up and down, left and right, but I would like to see him more focused on the box.”