It was not victory that distinguished the first home game of Marco Silva’s Everton reign from what had preceded it, but the adventure, energy and enjoyment that accompanied a hard-fought defeat of Southampton. “Everything is different,” the new manager said. Goodison Park will be consumed by relief if that proves the case.

Not everything is different – referees continue to get it in the neck from Mark Hughes, who claimed Lee Mason should have dismissed Jordan Pickford for catching Danny Ings – but the change in Everton’s approach under Silva is marked.

There was only one new face in the Everton lineup – Richarlison, the £40m acquisition in question, scored his third goal in two games for his new club to add to Theo Walcott’s fine opener – but the hosts were unrecognisable from last season’s sterile side under Sam Allardyce.

Gylfi Sigurdsson and Idrissa Gana Gueye also played their part in a deserved but ultimately tense win after Ings opened his Southampton account early in the second half.

“Results support everything in football but the players are doing a fantastic job to try to understand everything we ask of them,” said Silva. “Now we are playing 50 metres further forward. Last season they were defending in their own box. The players are working hard, but the important thing is they are enjoying it as well.”

Hughes accused Mason of allowing Everton to disrupt Southampton by going to ground too easily in the closing stages. He also claimed that England’s goalkeeper should have been sent off for cleaning out the ball and Ings– in that order – late on. It was wasteful finishing that left Southampton pointless, however, Ings and Charlie Austin both missing clear openings.

“He got the ball but he took Danny clearly,” Hughes said. “Everton had a man sent off for less last week. My assistant has been to see the referee and his assistant and they said it happened too quick. In my view he didn’t need to follow through as he did. It’s not sour grapes but you’ve got to be consistent.” He certainly sounded sour.

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The first Goodison goal of the Silva era was exquisite – a set-piece routine straight from the training ground but exquisite all the same. Sigurdsson and Leighton Baines stood over a free-kick awarded for a foul by Wesley Hoedt on the former. The latter pinged the ball to Morgan Schneiderlin on the edge of the area and he released Walcott with a perfectly weighted flick. Alex McCarthy was completely exposed in the visitors’ goal and well beaten when Walcott poked the ball beyond him.

The opening goal was not the only thing that was impressive. They harried and pressed Southampton relentlessly. They did so in numbers and their industry was polished by quality in a team that was clearly enjoying itself in the first home game of the season.

Gueye’s commitment and distribution in central midfield set the tone and it was his fine ball into Walcott that led to Everton’s second. The winger combined well with Séamus Coleman on the right before delivering a cross that invited an emphatic finish. Richarlison provided it, muscling in front of Jack Stephens to beat McCarthy with a downward header.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Everton’s Theo Walcott scores their first goal. Photograph: Peter Powell/Reuters

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Everton lost Schneiderlin to injury before doubling their advantage and, as was the case following Phil Jagielka’s dismissal at Molineux last Saturday, the response to a setback was another positive for their new manager. But this was far from a one-sided affair and Hughes’s team were always a threat whenever they broke down the flanks or James Ward-Prowse lined up a set piece.

Pickford almost gifted Ings an equaliser when he spilled Cédric Soares’s long-range shot. The former Liverpool striker looked certain to convert from three yards but the keeper atoned for his error by somehow steering his shot on to the bar from point-blank range.

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Ings, signed on a season-long loan that will become a £20m transfer next summer, enjoyed a lively full debut and reduced the arrears when left unmarked at a Ward-Prowse corner that was flicked on by Mario Lemina.

Walcott should have put the contest beyond Southampton, dragging a shot wastefully wide when freed by Sigurdsson, but Silva, and Everton, made the start they craved regardless.