Pardew: Blades clash a must-win

Alan Pardew labelled Charlton’s clash with fellow strugglers Sheffield United next weekend at The Valley as the defining point in their battle against the drop.

The Charlton boss saw his side beaten 2-1 at Everton yesterday thanks to an injury-time goal from James McFadden.

It was a heartbreaking moment for the south Londoners, who thought they had grabbed a priceless point when Darren Bent equalised in the 90th minute after Joleon Lescott had put Everton ahead with just nine minutes left.

Now Pardew must lift his side for the visit of the Blades, the Yorkshire side having given themselves a lifeline by beating Pardew’s former club West Ham on Saturday.

Pardew said: “Our next game is a must-win match, it is as simple as that. The way the results have gone for us this weekend with Sheffield United winning and Wigan getting a point means that our next match could decide our fate.

“It’s obviously about results, but you must take positives from the performance as a team and individually.

“Everton are aiming for Europe and I do not think there was anything between us. We can still survive and we will take a lot of strength from this.

“We still have tough games at Liverpool and Blackburn, we need to take this performance into those games. I am proud of the players and we will take that into the game with Sheffield United. There is still a lot to happen yet at the bottom of the table.”

Everton’s chances of reaching Europe were boosted by Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final victory over Blackburn later in the day, meaning they will play Manchester United in the final.

All that means another Premiership place will be freed up for UEFA Cup qualification, so now seventh place will get a club into Europe.

Everton are now fifth and six points clear of eighth-placed Portsmouth, and Toffees boss David Moyes paid tribute to his side’s resilience.

Moyes said: “It was great for James to come off the bench and score the winner. It was a finely-worked goal and the finish was outstanding.

“We fully deserved the win, we kept going, never did we change our system. It wasn’t in doubt that we deserved this.

“We had to handle Darren Bent’s pace. But I do not agree that Charlton deserved to win. It was just a bit to close for comfort.

“We had to be patient and the lads kept doing the right things. We must keep going, not get too anxious, and we stuck to the task and fully deserved the win. Overall we were the better side and deserved the victory.”

Pardew felt his side were worthy of the win, adding: “People will look at the result and say that was expected, but we produced a display that tells a different story.

“We produced a tremendous effort, we are deeply disappointed with the second goal because we had got ourselves back into it and deservedly so, we deserved to win in.

“We had plenty of chances before they scored, and even at 1-1. We leave here disappointed but our spirit is intact because we put in a fantastic effort. It was a great display of diligence from us and the scoreline does not really reflect what really went on.”