Masch joy at full-back display

Javier Mascherano was delighted with his performance as a makeshift right-back in Saturday's derby triumph and admitted the nature of the victory made the three points extra sweet.

The Argentina skipper starred as he was forced to play an hour in defence following Sotirios Kyrgiakos' first-half red card but insisted that reinforcing their bid for a top four finish was all that mattered in the end.

"Last season I played right-back against Sunderland. This time, it would have been difficult for the manager to make a sub at that time so maybe he preferred to move me into right-back and I tried to do my best," he said.

"The way that we won made it even better. To be a man down for so long and to have to play with 10 men for almost 60 minutes was really difficult but the result shows how hard we worked.

"The most important thing is that the team continued to work hard and because of this we were able to win with 10 players.

"Maybe it wasn't our best performance but the only thing that mattered was the win. Now we have to keep going."

The stoppage time dismissal of Everton's Steven Pienaar means the Merseyside derby has now produced 19 red cards in 36 Barclays Premier League meetings.

Referee Martin Atkinson endured a busy afternoon in what was a pulsating encounter and Mascherano conceded it wasn't easy for the official.

"It was a very hard job for the referee because the players did not help him," he said.

"It was a hard game with a lot of tackles but this is the way it is in derby matches, they don't want to lose and we don't want to lose. Sometimes you can see some hard tackles because of this.

"Soto (Kyrgiakos) said to us that he went for the ball, maybe he went in the wrong way but he went for the ball."