Howard delighted with rare clean sheet

, 28 November, 0comments  |  Jump to most recent
Tim Howard admitted he was ecstatic after securing only the second clean sheet of Everton's season during their revitalising win over Bolton. The USA goalkeeper made a couple of important saves en route to a 2-0 victory at the Reebok stadium which propelled the Toffees up to ninth in the Premier League table.

He said: ?I think that's massive for us, considering our defensive performances.

"I think we've been defending well, but Wolves should have been a clean sheet other than a soft penalty, and we haven't been getting little bits of luck.

?But the biggest thing I need is the back four playing at a high level, limiting opportunities and putting in performances.

"We've done that and done a really good job.

?It's getting harder and harder to get clean sheets now. So many goals get scored in the Premier League and for whatever reason they're hard to come by. It's why you're so happy when you finally get one.

?There's so much going on in this league — we have some of the world's best players and one moment of hesitation in a game, one slip-up and bang, somebody will capitalise on it.

?We try not to get caught up in the outside hype because it can all come out in the wash quickly,? he said. ?Two games later it looks OK. We won two on the bounce, which is very hard in this league, and you shoot up the table. We went through a horrible run of games and Bolton had the same, playing the top five back to back. It's never easy.

?From one week to the next in this game we all love so much your emotions are up, then they're down. If we win it's a great week at training and everyone is buzzing. If we lose — you feel the pressure and it's intense.

?We're getting stronger and stronger, and since I've been here we start to respond during hard periods and really push on.?

Quotes or other material sourced from Liverpool Echo





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