Clean sheets key for Everton FC defender Lucas Neill

LUCAS NEILL created a couple of goals on his Premier League debut for Everton yesterday.But the Australian defender says he'd happily swap a clean sheet for his assister act II.Neill played passes that created goals for Louis Saha and Marouane Fellaini, but the Blues still lost out 3-2 at Bolton.And afterwards he said: 'I made an impact, but as a defender I pride myself on clean sheets and that's taken the gloss off it today.'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.'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 it, but a little bit of naivety and a couple of simple 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 admitted that manager David Moyes had issued some harsh words in the dressing room but added: 'Rightly so. 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 that all around, the losses become draws and the draws become wins.'Neill made his debut after yet more injuries - this time Yakubu with a bruised heel and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov with a thihg strain - took Everton's tally of walking wounded to 11.

Source: Liverpool_Echo