Frank Lampard admitted his frustration Everton could not take maximum points from a game he feels they “deserved to win” in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest – but praised the determination his team showed to fight back to hit a late leveller.

Demarai Gray’s wonderfully composed finish late in the piece earned the Blues a point after Brennan Johnson gave the away side an 81^st-minute lead at Goodison Park.

Lampard believes only a lack of clinical edge in front of goal cost his team victory after an Everton performance full of intensity and attacking purpose.

Read more from the manager on the game’s key talking points below…

Lampard on Everton’s performance…

It’s a first point on the board, but I thought we deserved to win today. That’s not to say Forest didn’t compete. They’re a team of really good players and they have a really good coach. We had 19 shots and, with the quality of chances we have, it’s very difficult to gain control and real confidence in the game if you’re not taking those.

Things are not dropping for us. Balls are flying around the box, shots cannoning off opposition players’ bodies. We had a lot of good opportunities to score but we didn’t take them. Forest had a couple themselves, but we certainly had the better of the chances. We showed good character to come back and get a point out of it. We had a couple of fair chances to score a winner, too, and on another day, those go in.

On the determination his team showed to fight back in the game…

There’s resilience and there’s spirit. It’s easy to lose confidence when you concede, but the plyers stuck with it and the fans did too. It did get a little nervous after Forest scored but Demarai’s goal changed that. You see the power of unification in the stadium when we get the last five minutes – when everyone is together pushing for that goal and the players run forward and give that energy.

On where Everton can improve…

There were elements of the performance I was happy with, and elements not so much. I think that’s normally the case for a lot of teams early season. We’ve lost some big players at the top of the pitch – one is injured [Dominic Calvert-Lewin] and one of them left in Richarlison – and we’re looking to correct that quickly, and that’s not easy.

We know it’s an area of the pitch we want to improve on, and we have the window open [to try to do that]. With the players that have joined, Amadou Onana is not fit yet as he missed a chunk of pre-season. Conor Coady has just come in, so you’re trying to solve a lot of issues at the same time. We do have a bit of time and we have to have patience with it, because it’s the reality of where we’re at.

On goalscorer Demarai Gray’s display…

I was really pleased with Demarai’s performance and the goal. Against players that are committed to defend in numbers, you need players that open the game up. Demarai did that with his movement, with his speed and with his one-v-one stuff. The goal was fantastic. It was a great ball from Jordan, there was perfect timing of the run and perfect control on the run, which is tough, and he slotted it in. It was great to see.

On Jordan Pickford’s assist…

With Jordan’s quality and the speed in our game, it has to be an option [to go long at times]. It’s not a bad thing to play quality balls over a high line. Sometimes I think players turn away from it and think in the modern day you have to play short all the time, you absolutely don’t. It was good to see the players take that in when you talk about things like that. It’s not just the goal, but what the ball in behind does to opposition defenders… That has to be a part of our game.

On other impressive individual performances…

I thought Alex Iwobi was fantastic. Receiving it, controlling it and breaking through lines and passing well. The movements of the back three and the angles of trying to play through, especially in the early parts of the game, were really good. Some of the performances were very good and players like Tom Davies were integral in the way we were playing. Those are the moments – when we were playing well and opening them up in that first 25 minutes – when it’s about getting that goal, because then the game looks completely different.