BOSS RUES 'OFFSIDE' GOAL

Sunday 20 December 2009, 16:35
by Antonia De Feo @antoniadefeo

David Moyes said Louis Saha's disallowed goal was the key moment in Everton's 1-1 draw with Birmingham.

Everton took an early lead through Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and looked to have doubled it four minutes later when Saha's strike was wrongly chalked off for offside.

Birmingham subsequently equalised halfway through the opening period and that was the way it stayed.

"It was a goal," said Moyes of Saha's strike.

"But I am frustrated because we had opportunities. I thought we were in control and we should have won the game.

"I thought in the final third we were wasteful and it's proved to be costly."

Moyes also credited Birmingham as they extended their unbeaten run to nine games with a resilient display.

"You make your own luck," continued the Everton boss. "Birmingham have earnt theirs because they were very resilient.

"We weren't quite good enough to break them down today."

One positive for Everton was the ongoing return of Leon Osman, the midfielder playing 90 minutes of the encounter before being replaced in added time.

But that was scant consolation for Moyes after the game.

"Ossie coming back helped the performance," acknowledged Moyes.

"If you don't get the second goal it's not enough and Birmingham are on a great run at the moment. They stuck at it and got a good point."

"I am concerned because we are in the wrong part of the league. The injured players might not be back (soon) and if they are not back in time we will have to do it without them."