Jagielka savours Euro boost

Everton defender Phil Jagielka hailed his side’s 2-0 defeat of Manchester City at Eastlands as a “massive result” in the race for fourth place.

Goals from in-form striker Ayegbeni Yakubu and prolific defender Joleon Lescott were enough to dispatch a City side which showed no changes from the team which had beaten Manchester United last time out.

And Jagielka, who shone at the back for the Champions League chasing Toffees, remains optimistic after his side reclaimed fourth with three valuable points.

“It was a massive result, looking how tight the table is and coming to a place like here, where they’ve been fantastic at home,” he told Setanta Sports 1.

“Obviously the second half they put pressure on us but we have some decent defenders and others willing to muck in,” said the former Sheffield United man.

“It’s important to keep fourth place if we can and if we can finish there it will have been a massive season for us.

“Every point from now until the end of the season matters; it is six-pointers every week.

“If we can keep our performances like tonight we should be there or thereabouts.”

Visiting boss David Moyes was also upbeat about Everton's prospects but bemoaned his side's lack of penalty awards this year after two strong shouts were turned down.

“It was a great performance because Manchester City, their lads won against Manchester United in front of a very big crowd.

“For us to take six points off them this season is really good. To get 50 points at this stage of the season is fantastic and we have to keep building on it.

“But we’ve not had a penalty this season. We’ve come not to expect penalty kicks and we’ve had some that didn’t go for us that did matter.

“You’ll need to ask (referee’s chief) Keith Hackett why. He appoints them, trains them and gets them in condition to referee games.”

But City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson played down the importance of the spot-kick appeals, the strongest of which saw Micah Richards handle while on the floor.

He said: “I haven’t seen it but it really doesn’t matter if it’s a penalty or not. A 2-0 is a 2-0.”

Eriksson also believes the red card shown to Martin Petrov in the closing stages was a harsh one.

“Some minutes before that (sending off) he did something so that way I can understand it but when it happened I didn’t think it was a red card.

“It was not a kick, more like a tap but the referee thought that was right.”