As the Nottingham Forest supporters filed out of Goodison Park they roared in unison: “We’re going to win the league.”

The chances are they will not, but the sound of their celebrations at the end of this match were almost as galling to some Everton supporters as the prospect of Liverpool, the only team above them after this win, being the ones to stop them.

Their joy, and the fun that away end is having up and down the country, is a feeling that has long been alien to Blues through several seasons of misery. There have been bursts of spirit - the week of three wins, including in the Merseyside derby, among them. And there are plenty of reasons for Everton supporters to look forward to the future as the club stabilises under new owners ahead of the summer move to a new home that should be transformative to its ambitions.

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This is the present though and the final year at Goodison was marred by another away win on a dreary Sunday afternoon in which Everton struggled to compete with a side that was in disarray when it became the first of those three sides slain during the heady days of April.

Back then, Forest looked more chaotic than Everton. Having become the second side to suffer the ignominy of a Premier League points deduction their defeat in L4 forced them deeper into the relegation fight it saved Everton from. The result was so significant it shredded the visitors’ nerves, fuelling a frantic outburst on social media that had disciplinary repercussions.

But Forest eventually pulled clear of the trouble and this season they are having a campaign they could only have dreamt of in August. That is the problem for Sean Dyche and for those who make the decisions at Everton. Forest are the latest side to show that a team can go from a relegation fight to one that inspires hope and draws supporters into thinking that any match could yield three points. Everton have not done that.

The league is littered with examples of clubs that have grown on and off the pitch into teams that provide belief to their supporters. In contrast, Everton remain trapped in that cycle of struggle.

This is a club that has not been as well-run as the likes of Brighton and Hove Albion or Brentford, and have had less money to spend than Forest - it will have been lost on few that the best player on the pitch, Morgan Gibbs-White, was one of several missed targets of recent summers. So too was Anthony Elanga, another thorn in Everton’s side.

Supporters know that. But they are not wrong to want more than a side that, at its best, can stubbornly fight for draws against those with Champions League ambitions but then struggles to muster a threat when they face a lesser light.

As tough as it might be, this fanbase is justified in its hope the final campaign at the Grand Old Lady would not be one of forlorn journeys home after listening to away end after away end enjoy their final trip to Goodison.

The pressure to improve is one that will be passed on to new owners The Friedkin Group very quickly. The stability, resources and expertise they will bring should make progress possible. Whatever Dyche’s long-term role under them turns out to be, it should not be forgotten what he has achieved while labouring under the chastening constraints of the old regime, and that he is yet to see the tangible benefit of change.

He remains locked in a struggle with results and expectation though. For all the positivity inspired by the draws against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City, Everton have won just three times in 18 games this season and with Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton Wanderers now improving, they lie just three points ahead of third bottom Leicester City. Until draws turn into wins the fear that Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side are just an unexpected win from catching them will linger and fester.

That is the second reason why games like this hurt to those whose dreams are attached to the fortunes of Everton. While Forest are showing that a change in fortunes is possible with the right level of organisation and ambition, on Sunday they showed what can be achieved with fight and maturity on the pitch.

Everton’s small squad may well have been tired after three brave draws but they failed to lay a glove on a Forest side that, while in form, should not have been given the freedom to enact their gameplan so effectively. They were timid, slow and once again unimaginative going forward. That failure is on the players and the manager and must be addressed immediately with further tricky games ahead.

The truth of this match is that Forest kept Everton at a distance. Through goalscorers Chris Wood and Gibbs-White they were stronger and more intelligent than an Everton side that appeared bereft of ideas.

As Dyche attempted to break through the attacking struggles of the season so far by dropping Dominic Calvert-Lewin for Armando Broja, this was a reminder that different personnel can only change so much if the approach is not altered.

How enviously Broja and Calvert-Lewin must have watched Wood in action. Forest do not approach games too differently to Everton - they do not like possession, they look to counter, they like a physical figure up top. But the big difference between the teams is the support offered to Wood. For so much of this season Calvert-Lewin has been isolated, even more so since Dyche decided - with some success - to sacrifice attacking ambition to improve defensively by moving Abdoulaye Doucoure to the number 10. That change had yielded six points and three clean sheets through four unbeaten matches but it is one that has its limitations, as was clear against Forest, and does not solve the problems still facing a side that needs more wins.

Because of the continued struggle up top, once the away team took the lead, this game looked lost for Everton. And it was a goal that showcased the difference in approach, the difference in ambition. When Wood won Gibbs-White’s long ball forward he had Anthony Elanga close enough to him to claim the second ball. His flick found Wood, whose lofted finish was cute and took his personal tally to within three of Everton’s total number of league goals for the campaign.

The goal had looked increasingly likely when it came midway through the first half. Wood had already volleyed over after linking up well with Elliot Anderson, another player who offered him support, and headed just wide from a well-placed Elanga cross.

As Everton sought a response Broja fought hard but was often operating alone and was forced to feed on scraps and manufacture chances for himself. The excellent Gibbs-White created the best chance of the half when he played Elanga through on goal only for the winger to shoot wide on half-time.

In the second half Everton continued to labour but it was again Forest that presented the bigger threat. They were happy for Everton to take the ball and comfortable at dealing with what the hosts threw at them. They also played with greater composure. While Forest were dangerous on the break it was Everton who created the goal that sealed this away win, Doucoure’s pass dropping short of James Tarkowski and Vitali Mykolenko, allowing Elanga to steal in. He combined with Wood to send Gibbs-White into the box to finish this as a contest.

Dyche rang the changes but to little effect. It was not until the 80th minute that Everton had their first shot on target as Calvert-Lewin, one of the substitutes, headed tamely at Matz Sels. Another second half arrival, Beto, forced Sels into a tougher stop but, save for the persistence of Iliman Ndiaye, Forest were given little to worry about. At the end, they still looked more likely to score and should have made it three when an Everton corner became a counter attack that saw Elanga miss a second one-on-one with Pickford, who then saved from Taiwo Awoniyi’s effort off the rebound. The misses, of course, did little to quieten that celebrating away end.

Everton and Dyche have problems to solve and this match was a reminder of the fight they are still in. The Blues boss has overseen an upturn in results in what has been a very good December on and off the pitch for the club. The emotion of wanting to finish well at Goodison should not detract from the realities of the challenges still facing this club. But the promise of better days will still feel distant unless and until Everton begin to pick up wins.