DAVID MOYES and Harry Redknapp were unified in their praise for Phil Neville after the veteran Everton captain stopped man-of-the-moment Gareth Bale in his tracks in today’s 1-1 Barclays Premier League draw at Tottenham.

Bale has been on fire this season, hitting new heights on Wednesday night with a sensational hat-trick in Spurs’ Champions League defeat at Inter Milan and running Maicon – the man many consider to be the world’s best right-back – ragged.

But he was largely nullified by 33-year-old Neville on Saturday, who used all of his 15 years’ top-flight experience to keep the 21-year-old quiet.

Former Manchester United star Neville also helped Phil Jagielka double up on Peter Crouch, and Everton boss Moyes was delighted with the leadership his skipper showed.

“I don’t know if it’s a dying breed but he’s a great leader,” Moyes enthused.

“The team seems to function much better with him in the team.

“He might get to the stage where he might not be the best player but, certainly, the team needs his leadership qualities.

“You should hear him in the dressing room; you should see him before the game.

“He’s a top man, he really is. He prepares himself right.

“That’s why he’s had 50-60 England caps and that’s why he’s got longevity in his career.

“He’s a terrific leader, motivating, cajoling and he’ll always be the first one to put his hand up if he thinks he’s not been right on it.”

Opposite number Redknapp was equally effusive about a player whose ability has often been called into question.

“Gareth’s been murdering everybody,” Redknapp said.

“But I knew that he (Neville) wouldn’t be easy today because he knows what he’s doing.

“I think he’s an under-rated player. He’s a good pro and he knows how to play and I felt he did a decent job today with Gareth, really - as good as anybody’s done with him for a long time.”

Moyes revealed he had made special provision for Bale and fellow talisman Rafael van der Vaart, who nevertheless scored for the fifth time in as many games to salvage a point for Spurs.

But the Scot added: “We can’t say, ’We’ll stop Bale’; you can’t say, ’We’ll just stop Van der Vaart’.

“They’ve got players in all areas of the field that need taking care of.

“I’d give our players a great deal of credit.”

Van der Vaart levelled less than three minutes after Leighton Baines had given Everton a 17th-minute lead with a stunning free-kick.

Admitting the left-back probably would not have taken it had star midfielder Mikel Arteta been fit, Moyes said: “Bainesy does practise them and he’s got that ability.

“I thought when I looked at the wall that it was too big.

“It was nearly impossible to get it up and down.”

Everton might easily have folded following Van der Vaart’s equaliser, with Tottenham having come from behind to win in three of their previous four league games.

And Moyes revealed he gave goalkeeper Tim Howard a half-time pep talk after his flap led to the equaliser.

“I said to him at half-time, ’We’re going to need you to keep coming and taking it’,” Moyes said.

“And I thought he was brave at times in the second half. He kept coming and he clutched a couple of really important crosses for us.”

The draw followed Everton’s Merseyside derby victory and left them in a comfortable mid-table position.

Moyes, who was hoping Arteta would recover in time for Saturday’s game at Stoke, said: “If you’d given me four points from Liverpool and Tottenham, I would’ve taken it.”