David Moyes insists it’s one step at a time for Everton after they dispatched Nottingham Forest 3-0 to move to fifth in the Premier League table, writes Jack Cheseldine at the Hill-Dickinson Stadium.
An own goal from Nikola Milenkovic, a first for Thierno Barry and later Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall made it 13 points from the last possible 18 for the Toffees but Moyes is still targeting a certain amount of wins before his side can aspire to qualify for Europe.
He said: “It was an important win because it gets us closer to the win totals which you need to make sure you’re a Premier League club first of all. And obviously it also gets us in amongst the top end of the league as well.”
Dewsbury-Hall has continued his strong form since joining from Chelsea in the summer, with the 27-year-old being key in Everton’s run as they’ve now won four games in five. The midfielder finally got his goal with 10 minutes remaining to make it four for the season.
Moyes said: “It’s helping us knowing he can play a bit deeper and play there as well and still score goals from that position.
“We’ve played him a bit higher up the pitch but he’s flexible and he can do two or three different jobs. We’ve needed it because if Keano hadn’t made it we would have been as low as we probably could have been player wise.”
After featuring 16 times and failing to get off the mark, Barry finally got his first goal as the Frenchman put in another strong performance, leading the attack. Moyes is delighted by the support the Everton fans have given the striker who’s endured a difficult start to life on Merseyside.
He said: “I think I was as pleased for the supporters seeing him score as I was for the boy as well.
“I think every Evertonian has been wanting him to score but I have to say the crowd have given him incredible support and incredible backing and you know it’s amazing what that can do for some players.
“I think his goal was great for him because he’s earnt it with his work recently, but I’ve got to say the way Ili took it and laid it on a plate, his ability to roll it softly so he could come onto it first time, and stroke it past the keeper first time was great.”
