Moyes makes a case for the defence

Everton boss David Moyes believes the role of the defence has been overlooked in his side's recent resurgence.

Moyes feels his defenders received some unfair criticism during the Toffees' sluggish start to the campaign because deficiencies elsewhere on the pitch left them exposed. Now the Merseysiders appear to be making their customary strong finish to a season, it is the likes of attacking pair Nikica Jelavic and playmaker Steven Pienaar who are earning the plaudits. Yet while Moyes is delighted with the performances of both those two January signings, and another new arrival in Darron Gibson, the Scot is not overlooking his back line. Moyes said: "I think we have always had a strong defensive base and that is why we tend to be strong. "But at the start of the year we were being asked questions about the goals we were conceding but we weren't playing that well and we couldn't score.But over the year we have tended to be quite defensively strong and hopefully we will finish with a strong defensive record."