Blackburn Rovers 1 Everton 1

The South African international paid the first instalment on his £2.5 million transfer fee from Porto with a typically instinctive finish on his home debut last night.

But the former Porto striker's hopes of celebrating a first win with his new club were then dashed by Everton substitute Tim Cahill, who snatched a late point for the Toffees with a dramatic equaliser six minutes from time.

The timing of Cahill's late leveller was difficult to take for Rovers boss Mark Hughes, who had watched his side give a much improved performance following Saturday's dismal display at Portsmouth.

But at least Rovers are off the mark, and in McCarthy, the fans have a new hero to worship following the departure of Craig Bellamy to Liverpool.

"It's great for Benni that he was able to get off the mark and celebrate his home debut with a goal," said Hughes.

"He plays with a smile on his face, he enjoys his football, he wants to be a success in this country, and he's made a good start.

"It was a great goal and I thought he linked up well with Jason Roberts.

"From our point of view, we've just got to get him into positions where he has an opportunity to get a strike at goal.

"If we can get him in those positions then, more often than not, he'll score because he's a natural goalscorer.

"The goal he scored was only a half chance, but he knew exactly what he wanted to do with it."

With McCarthy and Roberts causing problems up front, Rovers carved out enough chances to have had this game sewn up long before Cahill made his entrance from the bench.

But the fact they only had McCarthy's solitary effort to show for their efforts gave Everton a chink of light, and their resilience was finally rewarded in the 84th minute when Cahill pounced on hesitant defending to make his own point to manager David Moyes.

Hughes made two changes from the side that surrendered so meekly at Portsmouth on Saturday.

Zurab Khizanishvili passed a late fitness test and replaced the suspended Lucas Neill in the centre of defence, while Brett Emerton was preferred to Aaron Mokoena at right-back.

The Rovers boss also made a tactical switch in midfield, moving Steven Reid into his preferred position in the centre, with David Bentley reverting back to a place on the right.

As a result, Rovers were far more competitive all over the park, taking the game to their opponents at every opportunity.

Determined to exorcise the ghosts of that horror show at Fratton Park, Rovers exploded out of the blocks, creating the first chance of the night before Everton had worked up a bead of sweat.

Bentley slipped a wonderful ball in behind Gary Naysmith on the right and Roberts was onto it in a flash, his low drive forcing Tim Howard into a sharp save at his near post.

Another excellent Bentley cross led to a shooting chance for the lively McCarthy, but the South African couldn't control his volley from Pedersen's nod-down and blasted over.

Still, the chances kept coming for Rovers.

Roberts burst through again on the right after brushing off Naysmith's feeble challenge but, after brilliantly rounding Joseph Yobo, the former Wigan man bent his shot just wide of the far upright.

Moments later, McCarthy made a yard of space for himself with a wonderful turn 30 yards out, but his shot lacked the necessary venom to beat Howard.

By now, Rovers were firmly in the ascendancy and only a brilliant piece of defending from Yobo denied them a certain goal in the 36th minute.

Pedersen's long ball forward caught the Everton defence flat-footed once again, but as Bentley teed Roberts up for what looked like a simple tap-in, Yobo suddenly appeared from nowhere to clear the danger with his outstretched boot.

But the floodgates finally burst five minutes after the re-start.

A throw-in on the left found its way to McCarthy, who in turn picked out Bentley as he steamed into the area.

Yobo tried to stop the England Under 21 international firmly in his tracks, but he only succeeded in diverting the ball straight to McCarthy, who showed great awareness to squeeze a low shot past Howard and inside the right-hand post.

Everton were clearly rattled by that set-back, so much so that Moyes called an early halt to Beattie's night when he rather surprisingly decided to replace him with James McFadden in the 64th minute.

At the same time, Cahill also entered the scene and that seemed to galvanise the Toffees from that point on.

The alarm bells started sounding in the 73rd minute when Andy Johnson sprung the offside trap only to be denied by a fine stop from Friedel.

Then Uriah Rennie almost caused a riot in the Darwen End when he turned down Johnson's penalty appeals after he appeared to be poleaxed by Todd in the area.

Moyes went ballistic in his technical area, but Rovers' reprieve proved only temporary.

With six minutes left, a speculative ball forward left McFadden in a straight race with Todd.

The Everton man got their first and lifted the ball over Friedel, who had advanced off his line to try and thwart the danger.

The United States international desperately tried to retrieve the situation by pushing the ball against the post, but Cahill reacted quickest to the rebound and emphatically buried the equaliser.

It was a gut-wrenching finish but at least Rovers are heading in the right direction.