Frank Lampard reveals two Everton players battled through illness to help secure Southampton win

Frank Lampard hailed Everton’s spirit to battle from behind and claim victory at Southampton.

The Toffees secured a second straight win at St Mary’s on Saturday as momentum continues to build.

But it wasn’t plain sailing for the visitors as they fell behind when Joe Aribo opened the scoring four minutes into the second half.

However, Everton were ahead just five minutes later through maiden goals for summer signings Conor Coady and Dwight McNeil.

Speaking to the Blues’ club website, Lampard said : “I’m delighted with the win, and I think we deserved it. Southampton is a tough place to come.

“I thought we were in control first half, but we could have been more ruthless and we could have hurt them more efficiently.

“Then we give a goal away but, to be fair to the lads, they have been tight this season and haven’t conceded many. There is a great spirit in the group to defend our own goal. We’re improving and there is a lot of work to do to get much better.

“We showed good spirit and a good reaction to come back, and I think the win shows our progression. It’s not the end of the story, we need a lot more progression to get to where we want to get.

“It is a positive we have a stronger spine about us now and an idea of how we want to play. I’m delighted for the lads to get that feeling of two wins on the bounce.

“We’re getting better and we have better strength of character [than last season].

“We’ve had a couple of good draws on the road which showed some resilience and digging in – and now we come away and get a win. That will give a feeling of confidence to the group.”

Anthony Gordon was only able to come off the bench for Everton, having been unwell in the build-up.

And Lampard confessed that Amadou Onana, who assisted Coady’s equaliser, also was not feeling 100% in the game.

The Everton boss added: “Anthony has not been well. He missed training on Thursday. He trained on Friday and didn’t look right. He tried to tell me he was right, but I knew he wasn’t!

“Anthony is playing well, but we had to protect him. You want energy from your wingers and we got that from Dwight and Demarai Gray.

“Amadou Onana also felt not so well during the game but, fair play to him, he fought it through.”