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Tim Hobbs reports

Steve Watson was the unlikely hat-trick hero as Everton strolled to success against pitiful Leeds.

The defender with an eye for goal bagged the first two and the fourth as Peter Reid's return to the club where he enjoyed so much success ended in the most shambolic display of what is threatening to be another season of severe struggle for his current employers.

Duncan Ferguson also headed in his fourth in as many games as the Toffees picked up only their second win of the campaign.

David Moyes will admit that they have not hit the heights of last term yet, but even with Wayne Rooney left on the bench they did not need to. Rarely will Leeds fans have been represented by a side so short in basic skill, shape and stomach for the fight.

That Everton had five clear-cut chances before Watson thumped in the first told just a small part of the story. That Tomasz Radzinski had a goal disallowed for off-side and hit the outside of the post told a little more and the fact that Nigel Martyn only had one save to make against his old club, from the peripheral Mark Viduka, confirmed that this was a 'match' in the loosest sense.

Martyn was greeted warmly by the travelling Leeds fans and in the first half he could easily have hopped over the hoardings and  into the away end to thank each and every one personally, such was Everton's superiority - and Leeds' submission.

Thomas Graveseen drilled across the face of goal, Radzinski turned in a shot only to be flagged off-side and the impish James McFadden forced a save from Paul Robinson within the opening quarter-of-an-hour as Leeds took an absolute battering from the off.

It was no surprise when they failed to clear a corner and Watson exchanged passes with Ferguson to ram a decisive finish high into the net. It was even less of a surprise that Roque Junior was the man supposedly picking up the goalscorer.

Ferguson and Radzinski then shaved woodwork before a simple ball over the top from Tony Hibbert saw Robinson race from his goal to clear, but as the ball dropped some 30 yards from goal, neither Jody Morris or Seth Johnson were, not for the first time, anywhere to be seen and Watson coolly lobbed in his second.

Everton's third came two minutes later as Leeds again failed to clear the lines, mark their men or do anything to resemble a side that belongs in the Premiership. Lee Carsley had almost too much time to whip in a cross from the right for Ferguson, shrugging off Zoumana Camara, to head home a trademark finish.

Reid made three changes at half-time but new faces simply brought the same old story as Watson completed his treble.

David Unsworth's ball in from the left cleared everyone and hit the unsuspecting and unmarked Watson in the face, but even then no-one came to close him down and he lifted a clever finish over Robinson from the tightest of angles for his first hat-trick for the club.

Leeds fared better when Michael Bridges eventually got involved, but just when they thought it couldn't get any worse, on came Rooney.

His first shot was thumping drive parried by Robinson and he then broke clear of a ragged off-side trap only to drag his effort wide, while fellow sub Kevin Kilbane's opening salvo was a wild volley over the bar from inside the six-yard box.

Yet Everton could be forgiven for taking their foot off the accelerator, against a sorry side stuck in reverse. Leeds thought they had turned a corner in beating Swindon - only to find themselves careering towards a dead end.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Steve Watson (Everton): The Leeds defence would have struggled to cope with Emily Watson, but Steve took his goals superbly - and could have had more.