Moyes relieved to take point

Everton boss David Moyes admitted he was relieved to have grabbed a point against Blackburn after being out-played in the first half of the 1-1 draw at Goodison Park.

Blackburn went ahead through Roque Santa Cruz in the opening period and dominated for long spells before James McFadden earned his side a point with a late leveller.

Moyes said: "We did okay early on but once they scored we were second best until the break. They played much better than us and I was happy we were only 1-0 down at the break. But in the second half we did much better. Earlier we had huffed and puffed and not got anywhere but eventually I felt we deserved the draw."

He added: "We are missing something up front at the moment and everyone knows we are trying to do something about that. Victor Anichebe has not trained all week with an ankle problem and with other players fit I would not have even put him on the bench.

"But he had to have a go at it and eventually we managed to pull the goal back when Mikel (Arteta) got a good ball into the box for James McFadden to get on the end of."

Rovers boss Mark Hughes also accepted the draw as a reasonable result, saying: "If you can come away from Everton with a point you have done okay. This is one of the most difficult grounds in the Premier League to get anything, and I felt for long periods we were the better side.

"It got more difficult after the break, you always know they will come back at you in a situation like that and keep getting the ball into the box.

"We pride ourselves on stopping teams from doing that, but Everton manage to do it very well."

He added: "I am pleased we maintained the level of performance we showed last week in drawing against Arsenal and maybe we had enough chances early on to have been comfortably in the lead at the break.

"But our aim is to take points from teams we feel will be around our position in the league, and that in the end is what we have done so I have to be pleased with that."