Everton Football Club News

• Nickname:Toffees
• Founded:1878
• Manager:David Moyes

• Ground:Goodison Park
• Capacity:42,440

Moyes rues late 'madness'

24 Dec 2007 - 09:10:14

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Everton manager David Moyes refused to be too critical of Steven Pienaar despite his 'moment of madness' costing the Toffees a point at Manchester United.

The South African clumsily brought down Ryan Giggs in the 88th minute at Old Trafford on Sunday and Cristiano Ronaldo converted the resultant spot-kick to seal a 2-1 victory for the champions.

Earlier, Tim Cahill had cancelled out Ronaldo's 22nd minute opener and the game seemed destined to end in stalemate before Pienaar's costly intervention.

"The fact it was a penalty and it was late on means it hurts more, but that happens and I don't think I left the field feeling like a loser," he told the club's official website.

"I can't hide the fact it was a poor decision by Steven Pienaar in the box that led to the penalty.

"We have told him that, but in the same breath I had to tell him how well he has played for us today and also how well in the last few months.

"That mistake cost us, otherwise we would be walking away with a hard-earned point.

"The back boys defended brilliantly well throughout. We had to wait for our moments and so for the team to lose the game is hard.

"We know why, that is football but I don't feel we have come away as losers.

"We have come away with an awful lot good about our game and we could actually grow in confidence because of the way we played."