Shola Ameobi: “I’m just glad to be on the pitch.
“The fact that I got the mask is great. It has given me the ability to be out there again when I could be on the sidelines.
“You would rather be out there and playing.
“It hasn’t healed properly yet.
“I have to take the knocks and bruises, and Sylvain Distin gave me a good one on the chin.
“It was the only place the mask wasn’t covering – and he managed to catch it.
“That’s what you get being a centre-forward and you have to put your head in where it hurts.
“I certainly will not back away. That mask is there to protect me.
“It’s disappointing to come off again when we have been leading.
“The fact that we just can’t see games out like we would like to has been our Achilles heel this season at home.
“Up until Everton scored their first goal I thought we were on top and the only team in it.
“We gave away a soft goal which gave them a bit of confidence. You never want to give an away side that.
“We dominated the first half and we didn’t want to go into the changing room 2-1 down, but we did.
“You can’t escape all the time. It’s not going to be Arsenal-esque every time. We have to learn how to play the game when we are ahead and see games out.
“As far as not scoring is concerned, it wasn’t through the want of trying.
“We put a lot of pressure on their defence and to be fair to them they defended extremely well.
“We had a goal disallowed which was unfortunate and then had one or two nearly chances.
“I had a shot which I didn’t quite catch.”