McCarthy dismissal was harsh – Martinez

Everton manager Roberto Martinez feels James McCarthy did not deserve to be sent off in Wednesday’s scoreless draw with Crystal Palace.

The midfielder was shown his second booking after a foul on Yannick Bolasie in midfield, but Martinez believes the Palace winger deliberately went to ground.

“When I was watching live I thought it was a yellow card,” the Everton boss admitted at a media conference.

“But when you watch it more carefully, you see the opposite. It is very, very harsh.

“Bolasie is very clever and goes through McCarthy. James’ body can’t disappear and I thought Bolasie was looking for the contact.

“James didn’t intend to get in the way of the Crystal Palace player.”

Wednesday’s draw saw Everton extend their winless streak in the Premier League to five games, but Martinez was nonetheless pleased with his side’s performance.

“It was a more than decent result. It is always difficult to cope with direct play. When you do that with 10 men, it is incredibly positive,” he added.

“The resilience and hard work, to be able to be so solid, was great.

“We had as many chances [as Palace]. Joel [Robles] made a couple of outstanding saves, but [Wayne] Hennessey was forced into reaching similar levels on the night as well.

“To play like that with 10 men, it was incredibly satisfying.”