Source: PA
Baines escapes League "torture"
Everton defender Leighton Baines is relieved a first Barclays Premier League victory of the season has avoided the "torture" of going through the international break still without a win.
A 2-0 win over Birmingham at St Andrews, the first time the Blues had lost at home in the league for a year, lifted David Moyes' side out of the bottom three and up to 17th.
Everton's pain is now being felt by near-neighbours Liverpool, who lost to Blackpool at the weekend and are one place below their Merseyside rivals.
The pair meet at Goodison Park on the resumption of league action on October 17 and Baines is well aware how crucial their first win was.
"It was vital for us to get off the mark," he said. "I couldn't have imagined facing the next couple of weeks still having not won and it would have been torture really in some ways.
"We're not going to try and kid ourselves and pretend it doesn't matter, because it does."
