"I thought the players played really well and to score six was very good, Moyes said before joking that a radio presented told him his side had only scored five.

When again told the score was 5-1, Moyes said: "I'm sure it was six. I'm delusional."

The Scot praised the performance of Mikel Arteta, who scored twice and had a cross turned in by Hull midfielder Richard Garcia.

"He scored two very good goals and played really well all round. Mikel is still not back to how he was but I thought today was more like him and shows how much we have missed him over the year.

"It might take him a while to get his full strength back but he did a lot of good things with the ball."

US forward Landon Donovan is due to return to LA Galaxy after his loan spell expires next week and, after he came off the bench to score and set up Jack Rodwell, Moyes admitted losing him would be a wrench.

"We would like him to stay but it looks like he is going back to America. We respect that and don't have a problem with it, but he has done well.

"I think we and Landon would be keen but he is here for the Birmingham game next week. Maybe there is a bit of time to see if anything can be done but, if not, you could see what the supporters thought of him."

Hull stayed in the bottom three after the loss and manager Phil Brown said: "I thought we were competitive in the first half but in the second we certainly weren't.

"We left our game in the changing room for whatever reason.

"Everton were good but we made them look good because we didn't get in the face of the opposition.

"Defensively I have questioned one or two but we will dust ourselves down and get on with it. We have got 10 big games now.

"Goal difference will play a big part this season and that kind of collapse in the second half is not what is required between now and the end of the season."

Eurosport