Boss Urges Naismith Patience

New star smashes Goodison hat-trick but Moyes urges caution.

David Moyes has warned Everton may need to be patient with new signing Steven Naismith despite the Scot lighting up Goodison Park with a 30-minute hat-trick on Wednesday night.
 
Naismith, who joined the Blues on a free transfer in July, made his first run-out at the stadium and put AEK Athens to the sword with a clinical display of finishing.
 
Despite that, Moyes says he will bide his time with the striker, who is still working his way back to fitness following a nine-month spell on the sidelines with a cruciate knee ligament injury.
 
And while Naismith may have done his best to steal the limelight from testimonial man Tony Hibbert, his manager has urged supporters not to expect too much too soon from the former Rangers star.
 
"We took him off because we didn't want him to score any more," joked Moyes. "He had a great opening and he's a player who's got a goal in him, we know that. And hopefully when we get him right - because you've got to remember he's missed nine months of football and we're not rushing things with him - hopefully we'll see a few more goals from him.
 
"In the end I think he'll be a good Everton player. We'll just need to give him time. I don't want people to think it'll happen over night. I hope he does what he does but just like we've had to take time with people like Phil Jagielka and Leighton Baines in the past, I think we'll need to do the same with Steven Naismith."
 
Naismith's hat-trick was followed by a less-than-trademark free-kick goal from Hibbert and Moyes added he'd been left satisfied by his side's performance with less than two weeks to go until the Premier League season begins.
 
"We did okay," he said. "After the weekend game [against Blackpool] we talked about a couple of things and I think the players put that into practice in the first half.
 
"We were disappointed we gave away a goal but overall we played quite well and that was the main thing. The players wanted to work a bit harder to get their fitness right and I thought they did that."