Everton FC News: David Moyes hails Everton’s character to withstand West Ham onslaught and hold on to priceless victory

Nov 9 2009 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

Everton FC News: RELIEVED David Moyes praised the character of his Everton players after they survived a late West Ham United onslaught to end their winless run.

Moyes’s side earned a first victory in eight games with a tense 2-1 triumph at Upton Park yesterday.

Louis Saha’s ninth goal of the season had given Everton a half-time lead which was doubled by a 64th-minute strike from Dan Gosling.

But an unfortunate own goal from Tony Hibbert barely a minute later prompted a strong revival from the Hammers during the closing quarter.

And Moyes admits the Goodison outfit have plenty of room for improvement, while accepting the win was “much-needed” at the end of a hectic schedule of seven games in 23 days.

“We have not played that well lately,” said the Everton manager.

“We can’t ask for any more than the win but we need to play better.

“West Ham had a good result against Arsenal when they got it back to 2-2, they got a good draw at Sunderland and also beat Aston Villa. So am I pleased with three points? Certainly, because West Ham are not in bad form.

“It’s been a tough period, probably too many games for the same group of players to be playing in.

“I thought they showed great character to hang in there at the end of what has been a very difficult period. It was a much-needed win.”

Moyes added: “I think Everton over the last couple of seasons have played good football and been up at the top and good to watch.

“This was more like the Everton in the two seasons prior to that. We were resilient, hard to beat. Over the years we have shown better quality, but at the moment we are lacking a bit of quality in the side.

“We need to get back to winning, the key is getting the winning formula and we found it today.”

Only Manchester United and Manchester City have conceded less goals than Everton on their Premier League travels this season, and Moyes praised the performances of Joseph Yobo and Sylvain Distin.

“The centre-halves had good games,” said the Everton manager.

“It was always going to be tough. West Ham had their tails up, they saw this as a chance to get two wins in a week.

“When it was 2-0, we weren’t playing particularly well but we had shored it up at the back and it was nearly the perfect away performance where you get the goals and don’t play that well.

“Then when it went to 2-1 I thought there were too many spaces, they seemed to run through us and got a lift from it.”

Hibbert scored his own goal when he sliced what appeared a routine clearance off the line from substitute Junior Stanislas.

And Moyes added: “My feeling was that he should have cleared it. I haven’t spoken to him yet, though.”

Saha’s goal was his fifth in his last three appearances against the Hammers, with Moyes revealing the striker is still hampered by the calf problem that forced him to miss Thursday’s Europa League defeat to Benfica.

“It was in my mind that he does well against West Ham,” said the Goodison manager.

“Louis has a calf strain and probably shouldn’t be playing.

“We were thinking about taking him off at half-time but we gave him 10 more minutes in the second half because Yak’s been struggling coming back from his injury.”

Meanwhile, Everton face an automatic fine from the Football Association after accruing five yellow cards at Upton Park yesterday.