HOWARD: NO EXCUSES

Goalkeeper reflects on the 2-0 defeat against Real Salt Lake.

Tim Howard could not hide his disappointment following Everton’s 2-0 defeat against Real Salt Lake.

The American keeper made a number of crucial saves to prevent the MLS side from inflicting more damage at the Rice Eccles Stadium. Two goals in 60 seconds during the first half signalled Everton’s only defeat of pre-season so far.

Despite his heroics, Howard admits he was culpable for the first goal after missing a corner leaving Carey Talley with an open goal to head in.

“At altitude a few balls in training have drifted on me all week so I was a little bit nervy of that,” said Tim.

“But all in all, I can put that behind me and I think the game went all right for me.

“I don’t think we went into it thinking it was going to be a walk-through but they did play really, really well.

“We didn’t under-estimate them but we certainly came out of it having more respect for them.”

The USA international admiited the performace was not good enough but urged fans not to read to much into the result.
 
“It wasn’t good, it was poor”, he said. “All you can take from it is the fact that it was a training exercise but if we did it all over again we’d like a different outcome.

“It was just poor and thank goodness it was pre-season.

“We have been travelling and maybe we were heavy-legged and maybe not all into it.

“We’re not paid to make excuses, I know that, but sometimes there are factors.”