Sweet relief as Toffees taste winning feeling

PHIL NEVILLE has suffered a particularly embarrassing week since Everton slumped to the bottom of the Premier League and he believes the collective shame of such an alarming fall has been the shock to the system that finally enabled Everton to start their season after six aborted attempts.

The red faces on the blue half of Merseyside and the controlled, yet hardline, approach of manager David Moyes have been the contributing factors. If falling to the foot of the table hit the Goodison Park dressing room hard, Moyes hit them harder on the training ground for the entire week leading up to them lowering the colours of Birmingham City at St Andrew’s for the first time in just over a year.

There have been no complaints at cancelled days off or the double training sessions. They can at least shake away some of the extra fatigue during the international break and after relegating Liverpool into the bottom three for the first time since 1984 they can also contemplate the added incentive increasing the misery for their suffering neighbours when they return to league duty, at least free from some of the shame.