Thursday, February 5, 2009

Moyes elated after derby triumph

Everton boss Moyes was proud of his players
Everton boss Moyes was proud of his players

Everton boss David Moyes lavished praise on his players after they won an FA Cup fourth-round replay against Liverpool after extra-time.

Teenager Dan Gosling scored the winner two minutes from the end to set up a fifth-round home tie with Aston Villa.

Moyes said: "It was a deserved win. It is Everton's night tonight and we will do it with a lot of class and dignity.

"It's obviously great for young Dan to get the winner, but they are all great lads and I'm delighted for them."

He paid tribute to teenage duo Gosling and 17-year-old Jack Rodwell, who also excelled after coming on as a substitute.

"I was delighted with the two youngsters, Gosling and Rodwell, to come on in such an important cup tie and play as well as that," said Moyes.

"But it says, too, a lot about the other players. We have had so many injuries and we picked up more during the match, it meant we were looking around to see what we could change.

"So it was the young boys who had to come on and I did not have any worries putting the two lads on. They had the energy we needed, and it was not a worry for me to put them on.

"Gosling is a really good lad, he wants to learn and is a good trainer. He is a well-mannered boy who wants to improve and hopefully we can keep developing him."


Moyes reserved special praise for central defenders Phil Jagielka and Joleon Lescott, saying: "You would be hard pushed to see a better performance from two central defenders.

"I think Phil Jagielka looks unbeatable at the moment. There were moments in the game where I nearly thought a great player like Fernando Torres had said 'I just can't get past him. He's just too strong and too quick.'"

Moyes added: "We haven't won the cup tonight, although it feels a bit like it in there. There was a lot said about how Liverpool are much better than us and what they were going to do to us but it is Everton's night."

Liverpool's beaten boss Rafael Benitez blamed his side's defeat on the 76th-minute sending off of Lucas.

The Brazilian was shown a second yellow card after a trip on Lescott, but Benitez suggested he did not agree with the decision.

"The turning point of the game was the second yellow card for Lucas, I was not happy, but I do not want to say anything about the referee," said Benitez.

"We are really disappointed, to play for a long time with 10 men and to concede like that from a deflection at the end, you have to be disappointed."

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