Allardyce unhappy with Everton’s play in ‘final third’

Joe Williams

Sam Allardyce declared himself “pleased” with Everton’s overall performance as they lost 1-0 to Watford in the Premier League on Saturday.

In a match with very few clear-cut chances, Troy Deeney produced a bit of magic to fire in a goal late on to snatch the points for the Hornets.

“They had somebody who can finish and we didn’t,” said Allardyce.

“We ended up giving a goal away we should have avoided. It was a really good finish from Deeney though.

“In our final third we couldn’t find anything.

“I was pleased with the overall performance, but in the final third we could have done a lot more.

“When you play away from home in these games they can be scrappy. At this time of year teams look over their shoulders to see where they are.

“Our final third play was the big disappointment – goals overall have been our problem this season.

“Our best chance fell to Michael Keane who had a header from three yards out – don’t know how that went wide of the post.”