Neville hails team-mates for ‘dig out’

EVERTON skipper Phil Neville was grateful to his team-mates for helping him atone for his error in the draw at Chelsea.

Neville’s underhit backpass led to the penalty which Didier Drogba converted to give the Premier League champions a first half advantage.

It was an uncharacteristic slip from a man who leads by example and rarely puts a foot wrong defensively.

After that the veteran quickly put the mistake behind him, cajoling and coaxing on his teammates as they fought back to claim a deserved point at Stamford Bridge thanks to a late header from Jermaine Beckford.

Neville said: “When you make a mistake like I did you look to your team-mates to dig you out of it and they really did that. It was our best performance for a number of weeks.

“We showed the qualities and character that the manager asked for. The spirit and togetherness that was missing against West Brom was here in abundance today and in the end we were the team that probably deserved to win the game.”

The 33-year-old was in the thick of the action throughout, particularly in the first half when he became involved in a personal tussle with Chelsea’s Florent Malouda.

Temperatures boiled over midway through the opening period as the French winger appeared to lash out at the Everton man. The referee decided not to take action, however, and kept his cards in his pocket.

“We had Mikel Arteta sent off last week for something similar,” continued Neville. “It is funny really because I ended up getting booked just after that. It was like that throughout the game today and you have just got to take it.”

Leighton Baines took the plaudits for his performance and his fantastic work in the build-up to Everton’s equalising goal.

And Neville said: “Leighton has been our best player this season by a country mile. He put in some unbelievable crosses today and was a big part of a great performance.

“He was outstanding. Leighton needs to get back in the England squad and the only way he will do that is by producing performances like today. He is really consistent and it is only a matter of time until he gets his recognition.”

Baines, meanwhile, paid tribute to goal hero Beckford.

The former Leeds striker had just one Premier League goal to his credit going into the game but his header four minutes from time doubled his tally.

“I think if anyone could have got the goal, we would have all chosen Becks because some people have given him a rough ride of late,” said Baines.

“But he has been coming on for 10 minutes and getting three chances, which says something about the natural ability he has of getting in the right positions.

“If he keeps doing that, he has shown in the past that he is more than capable of scoring. He is going to be a big asset for us.

“To come to Stamford Bridge and get a point is always a decent result so we have to take some confidence from that.

“We were definitely good value for a point. We are quite pleased with what we’ve done and hopefully it’s a springboard for us to go on and put some decent results together.”