Brendan Rodgers admitted he was gutted to see his Liverpool side leave the home of arch-rivals Everton with only a point.
The Reds went 2-0 up thanks to an own-goal by Leighton Baines and a Luis Suarez strike. But the hosts came back strongly and fully deserved to be level before the break, through Leon Osman and Steven Naismith.
In what was, at times, an end-to-end derby never short of incident it could have gone either way. But the visitors at Goodison Park were the ones who left most aggrieved with another Suarez strike ruled out for offside in injury-time.
And Liverpool boss Rogers said: “The goal at the end was clearly a goal and we are disappointed not to get it. I think the linesman gave it but everyone in the ground thought it was a goal. That should have been a goal and an outstanding [game] for Luis Suarez.”
However, even he must admit Everton, having started half asleep, were dominant for large periods of the game. And while annoyed at the disallowed goal he revealed the performance and result was a step in the right direction for the new-look Reds.
“I thought the character and temperament was exceptional. 2-0 can be a difficult scoreline, especially here when they play long balls into the box, but it was another day of progress for us,” Rodgers added.
Despite the Blues’ dominance for much or the match, their boss David Moyes claimed he was happy with the point.
“It was a good game, really exciting, a disappointing start but our boys showed great character to come back and I thought we were a bit unfortunate to not to go in 3-2 up at half-time,” he said.
“It was a really good game, end to end, and either team could have won it.”
