Roberto disappointed by defensive lapse in concentration

The Blues ended up hitting the woodwork on three separate occasions before Romelu Lukaku scored his 50th Everton goal and salvage a point in a frustrating game. This is what manager Roberto Martinez had to say -

"I thought up until the moment we conceded we were fantastic defensively.

"Crystal Palace are not always good on the eye but they are very effective.

"They are so good away from home because they get the ball up the pitch very, very quickly with pace and power. I thought we anticipated that and we stopped their threat.

"The corner for the goal is a disappointment and I think it is more [about] concentration than anything else. We need to learn from it and get better, but our response, when Palace dropped even deeper, was fantastic. The maturity and personality we showed was very pleasing."

Martinez had previously stated the importance of Lukaku to the team's form, and asserted that once again -

"Rom has been very consistent in the last 12 months. He has scored 27 goals this calendar year and that is quite impressive.

"When you look at his overall development in the last 12 months - and we know there is lots more to come at the age of 22 - it makes you realise what a special footballer and special talent we have.

"It is not just talking about potential, I think it is fair to say we are talking about an established goalscorer, who has got an incredibly big responsibility in our team.

"He can control the moment. It was great to see him at the end of the move [for the goal], but we are disappointed we couldn't get the three points."

Lukaku was also interviewed after the game about hitting the milestone of 50 goals in 100 appearances for the Toffees -

"If you want to be in the top six or the top four, we need to win games like this.

"I'm proud of the record but as a footballer you want to win games.

"I'm happy with the landmark but at the end of the day I wanted the three points."