Sean Dyche reveals what he told Everton at half-time against Tottenham and names pair who were 'excellent'

Sean Dyche felt Everton were full value for their 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur.

Jarrad Branthwaite's 94th-minute header earned the Toffees a precious point at Goodison Park. Richarlison thought he'd come back to haunt his former club with a first-half double either side of a goal from Everton attacker Jack Harrison. But the Blues rallied in the closing stages after goalkeeper Jordan Pickford made three fine saves and Branthwaite bravely nodded home at the back post.

Despite going into half-time behind, Dyche felt that Everton played well in the first half. And having suffered a narrow 2-1 loss in the reverse fixture at Spurs, the Everton boss felt his troops could have been triumphant - but was satisfied with a share of the spoils.

He said: "Very pleasing from top to bottom. The way the team took on last couple days work after a late night down a Fulham, the commitment to cause is evident and some of the quality. They are a very good side, started well and scored a very good goal. We can always pick bones but from their point, scored a very good goal. Sometimes it can give you a kick-start as we seemed to grip the game then, we went on the front foot with more intent rather than sussing them out.

"We can in at half-time and reminded players it was a really good half very good first half and I said we've got to keep believing that into the second half. Sometimes, the biggest challenge is you can accept that it gets you nothing, so I said the second half had to be the same and it was.

"I thought we kept our levels really high and certainly felt we deserved an equaliser, if not all three but I thought we did down at their place but got nothing. That's sometimes football.

"The underbelly of a successful side is not just about the quality but about the work ethic and the belief, the work ethic and respect and the honesty of what you do. There are players out there within this group... [Idrissa] Gana [Gueye] has just got back he's been travelleing (from AFCON) and I thought he was excellent. Youngy is coming back from injury and I thought he was excellent, Seamus is coming back from injury, Ben Godfrey did very well again.

"So many good signs of players committed to the cause. Sometimes that gets overlooked. We are stretched to the limit - I'm not saying that, it's just a fact - but I'm not speaking to the players about that. I'm going: 'Lads this is a side I believe I can win and you should believe in each other and I thought that was on show again."