Moyes relief as Toffees’s ticky spell finally ends

DAVID MOYES was relieved Everton ended their losing streak at Fulham yesterday but is not getting ahead of himself.

Former Fulham striker Louis Saha returned to haunt his old club with a late goal which inspired the Toffees to a dramatic 3-1 victory at Craven Cottage.

The 33-year-old netted from an acute angle for Everton before Jack Rodwell scored in stoppage time to ensure they ended their three-match losing streak.

Moyes, whose side welcome Manchester United next weekend, was philosophical after the victory in west London and hopes outsiders will be too.

“I don’t think we’ll be thinking too far ahead,” said the Everton manager.

“If you look back to previous seasons, we’ve tended to get better as the season’s gone on so I’m hoping that will be the case again.

“What we needed to do from this period was find a win from somewhere.

“We’ve had a really difficult last three games, with Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea, and we have got Manchester United next week.

Fulham thought they had grabbed a last-minute winner through Zamora after he latched on to Andrew Johnson’s pass and rounded Tim Howard, but somehow he managed to hit the bar.

Fulham were made to pay for their futility immediately afterwards as Saha went straight up the other end and scored.

While Moyes was relieved, Fulham manager Martin Jol was left bemoaning defensive lapses.

Everton took a third-minute lead after Royston Drenthe hit an audacious shot but it looked liked Fulham had earned a share of the spoils thanks to substitute Bryan Ruiz’s exquisite chip three minutes after coming on.

However, Zamora’s miss and late goals cost the home side dear in a match that Jol thought his side should have won.

“There was a big contradiction between the first minute and the last,” he said.

“It is not about possession or playing better now, it is about chances.

“We really thought we could have a result from today but we didn’t.”