Toffees come unstuck, but Moyes upbeat

Charlton 2 Everton 0

Moyes’ men could have leapfrogged Arsenal, who do not play until tonight, into second place in the Premiership with victory over the Addicks, themselves having hit some form of late.

However, their drive towards Champions League qualification was slowed down following goals from Talal El Karkouri and Hermann Hreidarsson, after Duncan Ferguson had been sent off by referee Mike Riley just ten minutes after coming on as a substitute late in the second half.

Moyes, though, refused to publicly lambast his Scottish striker, who now faces an automatic three-match ban following a straight red card for deliberately elbowing Hreidarsson.

“It was a sending off, that’s it,” said Moyes. “I will do what I have to do. I am not going to elaborate on it.”

He continued: “It is a shock when Everton lose now, isn’t it? In the overall picture, it is a blip and we will get ready for the next one.

“Do you not think we are a breath of fresh air to even be challenging with the big boys?

“We should be encouraging teams to try and break the mould that you have to have billions to spend to be successful. Nearly everybody had us down for relegation, so we are going to try and do the next bit, which is stay there as long as we can.

“We have not said we will do, but we think we have got a decent chance. We have only lost four all season, only twice away from home, we have 40 points before the new year and a similar response to that during the second half will be fine.”

Moyes, however, felt his side could have come away from The Valley with a positive return.

“We did okay before they scored the first goal, and I thought it was going to be a draw,” reflected Moyes, who saw keeper Nigel Martyn limp off with a calf injury just before half-time.

“It was disappointing because we wanted the three points. We would have liked to have created more, but I don’t think either side created many. Both teams played very similar.”

The Everton manager was annoyed his side were not awarded a spot-kick during the second half following a tussle in the Charlton box from a corner.

“It was a definite handball and also a push on Kevin Kilbane,” he declared.

“It was nothing-each at the time, and we don’t get the penalty kick which could have made it 1-0, and there was no chances in the game.

“That is sometimes the difference between winning and losing sometimes, and that was the one today.”

Charlton boss Alan Curbishley, meanwhile, was left to reflect on a fourth win in five matches which has lifted them into contention for the top six as they prepare to host Arsenal on New Year’s Day.

“I just felt we needed to up the tempo a bit, because I thought we were a little bit lethargic during the first half,” he said.

“It was very difficult to play against and break down the formations we were both playing. Everton have had fantastic results on the road, and I did feel whoever scored first was going to win, and that is how it turned out.”

Curbishley added: “Over the last two months the players have done fantastically well for us, and we can end the year on a high. This was a big game for us because if we could get the result, then we could start looking upwards instead of behind us and perhaps that is the case now.”

CHARLTON: Kiely, Young, El Karkouri, Fortune, Hreidarsson, Rommedahl (Konchesky 79), Murphy, Kishishev, Holland, Thomas (Euell 69), Bartlett.

EVERTON: Martyn (Wright 45), Hibbert, Stubbs, Weir, Pistone, Yobo (McFadden 84), Carsley, Gravesen, Cahill, Kilbane, Bent (Ferguson 74).

Referee: M Riley (W Yorkshire).