Tough at the bottom for Toffees

EVERTON assistant boss Alan Irvine has revealed how the club’s players have found themselves in a mental trough after failing to build on last season’s fourth-placed finish.

Hopes were high for this campaign, but they were scattered after quick-fire exits from both the Champions League and UEFA Cup, at the hands of Villarreal and Dinamo Bucharest, respectively.

Such has their form vanished that Everton were outplayed by apparently doomed Sunderland on Saturday, only to snatch an undeserved 1-0 victory thanks to Tim Cahill’s stoppage-time winner.