Jarrad Branthwaite is looking forward to regular minutes after making his first start this season in the 1-1 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion at Amex Stadium. The 23-year-old has missed a large chunk of the season due to a long-term hamstring injury.
He played 89 minutes on Saturday, in an unconventional role. An injury to Vitalii Mykolenko in the buildup to the contest forced the centre-back to slot in at left-back instead. He had made his long-anticipated return to the pitch in the previous game against Leeds United, coming on in the second half at home.
“The legs aren't thanking me now! It's one of them; the manager asked me if I could play [at left-back] – and I'll do anything to get on the pitch again,” Branthwaite told the club website in the aftermath of the contest.
“It's been such a long time for me, so I'm just happy to be back out there. I got through it all okay, and I'm looking forward to hopefully playing many more games this season.
“I’m definitely happy. It's been such a long time. It's been a frustrating eight or nine months, really.
“And to play the 45 on Monday and to go and play the 80-odd minutes that I've done today, I'm really happy with my body, the way it's upheld and hopefully – touch wood I can continue for the rest of the season injury-free and have a good end to the season.”
After a lukewarm first half, the Toffees showed a lot more vigour in the second 45 against Fabian Hürzeler’s side. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall had a golden opportunity to steer the visitors into the lead but failed to take his chance. Brighton, however, scored against the run of play through Pascal Gross.
Beto, coming on from the bench in the 89th minute, secured a point for the Blues in the 97th minute.
“I think, overall, we should have won the game,” remarked Branthwaite. “I think we limited them to very few chances. They were clinical with the chance they got in the second half, but we had the key chances.
“We had plenty more chances in the first half. I thought we were a lot more aggressive in the second half as well, which gave us a foothold in the game and, like I said, we're unlucky not to get three points, but it's a very good point on the road.”
Everton, now unbeaten in four matches, find themselves 10th in the league table. They are five points off the top six and with 14 matchdays left this season, remain in the hunt for European spots.
“I think every game is massive now,” added Branthwaite. “We want Europe, we've said that from the start of the season, as well. So, like I say, every game's big and as long as we keep picking up points.
“We might look at the end of the season and we're in Europe by a point and today would have been a massive result. So, every game's huge and we've just got to keep going like that.”
Reader Comments
Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer ()
There are no responses so far to this article. Be the first to offer a comment using the form below.
Add Your Comments
In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.
Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site.
How to get rid of these ads and support TW
