‘The focus for us is to keep winning games’ – Everton boss Phelan reacts to Players Cup victory

‘The focus for us is to keep winning games’ – Everton boss Phelan reacts to Players Cup victory Everton head coach Scott Phelan wants his side to keep on winning off the back of their 2-0 success against Newcastle United in the Subway Players Cup at Goodison Park last night. Ornella Vignola netted both goals late in the game as Everton made it two wins out of two in the competition. When speaking to the media after the match, Phelan shared his thoughts on the game. “I think we were obviously the dominant team,” Phelan said. “I think the way we approached the game helped that to a certain extent, but saying that, they made it tough with their organisation in the spaces; they were trying to protect and sometimes, it wasn’t easy to break down in the first half. “We spoke about a couple of things at half-time and they came to fruition with the two goals, two moments of quality, some good combination, played on the sides with the second one and then the first one, Ornella shows some individual quality which was really good. Overall, really pleased.” Everton keeper Rylee Foster-Inman made her second appearance of the season, keeping another clean sheet. Phelan shared his thoughts on the summer arrival. He said “She’s done really well. Obviously, we’re fortunate enough to have two impressive goalkeepers with Courtney [Brosnan]. It’s not always easy for her to get the WSL minutes, but the couple of [cup] games so far, she’s done really well. That’ll be really good for her confidence to take part in the games and keep clean sheets which she has done so far.” Phelan has previously spoken about a lack of belief within his side, but he believes that recent results is helping build confidence. He said “I think they take confidence from performances like tonight and the weekend. Even though the result wasn’t how we liked [against London City Lionesses], the performance gave enough for us to be encouraged. You just can’t be quick to forget the good things that we’ve already done this season. They’ve won quite a lot of games already, clean sheets being a part of that and we build on that and move forward. I’m sure some belief will come from that.” It’s been a fantastic start for The Toffees in this season’s Subway Players Cup and Phelan is hoping to see his side go far in the competition. He said “Three wins from three, hopefully. It is as simple as that. The format changed a little bit and there are still quite a lot of group games to play. The focus for us is to keep winning games and progress as far as we can. It’s something we want to do. Cup competitions can be exciting when you get to the latter stages. We just need to earn the right to try and get out of the group stage. Hopefully, we can do that.” Everton are next in action when they face Aston Villa at Goodison Park on Sunday afternoon.