Source: SKY_Sports
Neill happy with two assists
Lucas Neill was pleased with his two assists on his Premier League debut for Everton, but admits he would have preferred to keep a clean sheet.
The Toffees dragged themselves back from two goals down to level matters against Bolton on Sunday only to concede an 86th-minute winner from Trotters striker Ivan Klasnic.
Neill was the man responsible for picking out Louis Saha and Marouane Fellaini, although both players admittedly still had plenty to do before they scored, but the Australia defender stated he has to pride himself on clean sheets more than forays forward.
The former West Ham man had only played in one game prior to his run-out against Bolton, in the Carling Cup win over Hull City, and the 31-year-old is hoping he can build on his Reebok Stadium showing.
"I made an impact, but as a defender I pride myself on clean sheets and that's taken the gloss off it," the right-back said.
"But if I can keep chipping in with a couple of assists every game or so I'm sure we're in for a positive season. We've just got to keep things tight at the back.
Good character
"We got off to a start that wasn't to plan, but showed good character to get back into the game and I suppose the feeling then was that we were going to go on to win, but a little bit of naivety and a couple of errors and you get punished at this level.
"What happened today is something we'll analyse and make sure it doesn't happen again."
Neill revealed that manager David Moyes had some harsh words for the team after the final whistle, although he stated that the squad were now focused on the midweek trip to Tottenham in the Carling Cup.
"Rightly so," he added. "But we'll take it on the chin. It was done in a positive way and there's a game coming up very quickly to try and put it right.
"It's a tough game but one that we want to win to get further in the cup.
"We're just on a run at the moment where mistakes are proving very costly and it's only a matter of time before a bit of hard work turns all that around, the losses become draws and the draws become wins.
"I've made my league debut at least, but we've lost so it's taken the gloss off it. We'll go again. It's a long season and I'm sure we'll win a lot more than we'll lose."
