Pennington left wanting more despite first Everton goal in Merseyside derby

Matthew Pennington marked his first Merseyside derby with a maiden Everton goal – but he admitted his special day was tainted by the end result.

The 22-year-old defender was somewhat of a surprise inclusion in Ronald Koeman’s starting XI for Saturday’s clash at Anfield, Ramiro Funes Mori’s knee injury while on international duty with Argentina opening the door for the youngster.

Pennington himself has had his fair share of injury woes of late, with the game against Liverpool his first appearance of the season having struggled with a hamstring problem during the first half of the campaign.

But he showed no signs of those problems as he pounced on a loose ball in front of the Kop on 28 minutes to bring the Toffees level following Sadio Mane’s opener.

However, Everton would go on to lose 3-1 thanks to further goals from Philippe Coutinho and substitute Divock Origi.

And while being delighted to have tasted the Merseyside derby atmosphere, Pennington was left wishing for a better end result.

“It was a very special moment to score but it was obviously dampened by the result,” Pennington said.

“I’m always proud to wear this Blue shirt and to score a goal for the fans and team was special.

“I found out I was in the team on Friday when we did the shape, so I had time to mentally prepare.

“After my injury, my aim was to get back into the fold and get a few games. Hopefully now I can get a few more.

“It’s a disappointing day in the end. We wanted a result for our fans but unfortunately we couldn’t do that.”