Neville refuses to dwell on defeat

31 May 2009 17:06
Defiant Everton captain Phil Neville has demanded his side pick themselves up and move forward next season after their FA Cup final agony. The midfielder was denied a fourth FA Cup winners' medal as Chelsea came from a goal down to secure a 2-1 victory over the Toffees in Wembley on Saturday. Everton took the lead through Louis Saha's goal after just 25 seconds, the quickest in FA Cup final history, before Didier Drogba levelled and Frank Lampard's second half strike completed the turnaround. Rather than dwell on the defeat, Neville has rallied his troops and encouraged them to focus on the positives as they look to build on their impressive form this season. "This is a bitter pill to swallow," said Neville. "We visualised holding the FA Cup, we wanted it to be celebrated for years, so when it does not happen it is very disappointing. "To have got this and lost in the final, after all the effort we have put into this competition, we are gutted. "But we can be totally proud of our achievements and performances, we have had an amazing season. "It was 1995 the last time Everton were at Wembley, now we have been here twice in one season. Next season we have to make sure that we come to Wembley a minimum twice again. "Our fans are crying out for it, the manager is too. We must keep moving on. He added: "I agree with the boss [David Moyes] who said it is only a matter of time before we start winning trophies, I do feel that too. "We are heading in the right direction. We have our top players all tied on long-term contracts and we all feel we can achieve something together. "We have to come back for pre-season after a summer break determined to go again, to make sure we do better than this, but it has been nothing short of a miracle season. HonoursThe win was the fifth in Chelsea's history, equalling Everton's record of FA Cup wins in the process, but Neville admitted it could have been a different story had they took further advantage of their bright start. "We started well, scored a great goal, but we didn't build on that when we had the chance early on," he said. "But up until they equalised I felt we would be the team to score the next one. Then in the second half it became more difficult in the heat. "And after they scored the second, we had to chase the game, and to be fair they could have scored again. "They expected us to come fast out of the traps, they know we are a physical, hard-working team. But after the goal we sat back too much and gave them too much respect."

Source: SKY_Sports