Andrew Johnson says sorry to fans for Everton penalty misses

Sep 22 2007 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

ANDREW JOHNSON last night apologised to Everton’s supporters for the penalty nightmare that cost his team UEFA Cup victory on Thursday.

The striker missed twice from the spot as David Moyes’s side were held to a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their first round tie against Metalist Kharkiv at Goodison.

It extended Johnson’s goal drought to more than six months with the England international having not scored since netting the winner against Arsenal back on March 18.

Everton manager Moyes yesterday reiterated his support for the 26-year-old, who is likely to retain his place in attack for the Premier League visit to Aston Villa tomorrow afternoon.

And Johnson believes he will emerge stronger as a result of his spot-kick suffering.

“From a personal point of view I was absolutely devastated and gutted last night,” he said.

“Footballers go through things like this but I would like to apologise to the fans because I am better than that and they know I am better than that.

“Obviously strikers go through things like this and there is only one way to put things right and that is out on the training field. I will come through this. These are the things that make you stronger.”

Johnson scored from the first penalty, only to be ordered to retake after Austrian referee Fritz Stuchlik adjudged Everton players to have encroached into the area.

And after seeing his second attempt saved, Johnson revealed that he had no intention of ducking the responsibility of taking the second penalty awarded to Everton in the 89th minute.

“You have got to take the rough with the smooth,” said Johnson to evertonTV. “You have got to be big enough to take the penalties and big enough to risk missing them.

“There was no doubt in my mind I would take the second penalty. No-one else really wanted to take it so I stepped forward.

“I maybe wasn’t as confident as the first one but I was confident I was going to score.”

Moyes acknowledges that Johnson’s six-month wait for a goal must now be affecting his game.

But the Goodison manager has no intention of axing the forward as a result of his double penalty miss.

“I think it will be playing on his mind that he’s gone so long without a goal,” says Moyes.

“There’s nobody who would not be bothered about the situation.

“But Andy knows how the business works and he has to get on with the job.

“It might affect his confidence. I can’t tell you. We can only wait and see.

“But I don’t see any reason why things change because you miss a penalty kick. Plenty of people miss penalty kicks.

“We certainly support Andy.

“He’s played well enough for the team.”

Despite his lack of goals, Johnson has continued to contribute to the team and produced a fine assist for Yakubu to score the opener in the league victory at Bolton Wanderers earlier this month.

And Moyes added: “I’ve said before that the package with Andy Johnson is that he’s a team player as well and we wouldn’t change that.

“We wouldn’t want to change it.

“You can only keep encouraging him and ask him to continue to try to be positive in everything he does. I think he will be. We are not concerned about his current form.

“It would just be nice for him to get himself a goal.”

Moyes will wait until later today before deciding whether Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta and goalkeeper Tim Howard are fit enough to play tomorrow.

Arteta missed Thursday’s UEFA Cup game with a foot injury sustained in training while Howard has been absent for the last two matches with a dislocated finger.

Steven Pienaar, who also sat out the UEFA Cup game, is hopeful of a return but Danish midfielder Thomas Gravesen has had fluid drained from his knee and is unlikely to be available.