Everton boss David Moyes slams referee Peter Walton after Phil Neville injury

David Moyes slammed referee Peter Walton after Everton captain Phil Neville was carried off.

Everton boss Moyes was angry after Walton did not even give a foul after Fulham midfielder Dickson Etuhu’s studs-up challenge left Neville with a deep gash on his knee.

But Moyes gave Etuhu the benefit of the doubt, having signed the Nigerian midfielder during his spell in charge at Preston.

Moyes said: “Phil’s got a gash in his knee. He’s going to travel home with us rather than go to hospital so we think its OK, but we’ll assess it later.

“I know Dickson quite well and I don’t think he’s that type of player. I do think he was a bit late in getting there.

“In the football we play nowadays, I think it merited a free-kick at least, possibly even a booking. But it wasn’t given. If you tackle and your trailing leg comes through, you’re liable to give away a foul. That, at least, happened so that was missed and it was a bad miss for the referee.”

It was Everton’s third defeat in their opening four games but Fulham’s fightback lifted Roy Hodgson’s men out of the relegation zone thanks to Damien Duff’s winner.