Sean Dyche has praised his Everton side for growing into Saturday’s tough Premier League contest at Brighton and is confident victories will start coming their way if the team maintain current performance levels. 

Jarrad Branthwaite opened the scoring for the Blues in the 73rd minute with a stunning left-footed strike. Minutes later, Brighton’s Billy Gilmour received a straight red card following a late challenge on Everton’s Amadou Onana.

The Blues looked to be heading towards a crucial three points but, deep into what was nine minutes of second-half stoppage time, the hosts found an equaliser when Brighton captain Lewis Dunk rose highest to head a Pascal Gross cross past Jordan Pickford. 

Reflecting on the 1-1 draw, Dyche told evertontv: “I’ll credit them first because I thought the first 20 minutes, they started really bright. They tend to do that, and we warned the players of that. 

“We knew we would have to be resolute for that, and we were. They had some good chances but we smothered it and dealt with it. We looked strong from set pieces against, then in the last 20 of the first half, I thought we really grew into it. We delivered a much better game with possession. 

“I was frustrated with the first 20 minutes, but pleased with the second 20ish of the [first] half. Then second half, we had to make a change with Amadou (Onana) coming on - he made a difference and I thought he did well. Again, we took on the second half really well, didn’t give too much and looked a threat. 

“We scored and looked in good shape at that period. Unfortunately, we give away what we would deem a soft goal. It’s a good cross from them and a good header but could have stopped that at the source and done better with that.”

Despite the frustration of not holding onto all three points, the draw on the south coast extended Everton’s record to just two defeats from their past nine matches. 

Dyche acknowledged that while he believes his side should have more wins to show for their competitive displays since the turn of the year, he’s confident they’ll soon get their just reward if they continue to produce performances like they did on Saturday afternoon. 

“At some point, you need payback for the performances,” he explained. “The noise changes when you win, I think a lot of the performances across this (winless) run have been very good, probably better than the four wins on the trot [in December] if I am being honest. But you have to find wins. 

“So the responsibility is on us to keep performing and turn those performances into wins, that’s our responsibility and mine. 

He added: “It’s a tough one today, but there is a lot to praise. We have come away from home, been resolute and so nearly took three points. That being considered, these have only lost one at home so we will take the point and move one.”