Neville motivated by Cup final loss

Everton captain Phil Neville said the FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea in 2009 will motivate David Moyes’ side to reach Wembley again.

Neville was in the Everton team which lost 2-1 to Chelsea nearly three years ago, despite Louis Saha putting the Toffees ahead with the quickest-ever goal in a Wembley FA Cup final, scoring in the opening 30 seconds.

Everton face Blackpool in a fifth-round Cup clash at Goodison Park on Saturday and Neville, a three-time FA cup winner with Manchester United, is determined to earn a winner’s medal with his current club.

“Wembley is not a place for losers, it is a place for winners,” the 35-year-old told The Independent.

“There is no worse a feeling than losing a game at Wembley so that still rankles with me – that is motivation.”

“It is my favourite competition out of them all and if you get to the fifth round you are nearly at that stage of getting to Wembley for the semi-finals. The carrot is there for us, we just have to take the chance.”

The former England international is hoping to bring the FA Cup to Goodison Park for the first time since 1995, and they face a Blackpool side who have not beaten Everton in all competitions since 1966.

However, Neville is not taking anything for granted, and said: “I watched them against Sheffield Wednesday in the replay (in the last round) and they looked every bit as good as they did in the Premier League.”

“It looks like they have got over the hangover of their relegation – it wouldn’t surprise me if they bounced straight back up. We are the team expected to win but they will come and attack us.”

Neville added that the victory against Fulham in the last round will give Everton the confidence to have a strong run in the cup.

“Fulham took the lead but that game (which Everton won 2-1) was the turning point in our season because it gave us the confidence and belief because we had not been playing well at home,” he said.

“We started to show a few signs of getting back to form that night.”