Dirk Kuyt: Memory of Derby defeat spurred us on

Oct 22 2007 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

A dejected Dirk Kuyt (158)

DIRK KUYT revealed Liverpool were driven on by the memory of last season’s derby humiliation at Goodison Park.

The Dutchman scored two penalties on Saturday to secure the 2-1 victory that avenged the miserable 3-0 defeat last September.

Kuyt said: “I’m very proud for the supporters and the team. It’s unbelievable in the dressing room.

“This is the first derby win for me and I hope there are many to follow. You saw on the pitch how happy we were at the final whistle and it was the same in the dressing room.

“To win the game means a lot, we remembered what happened here last season.

“We definitely wanted something different this time around. We showed them we are a better team now.

“You could see our reaction after the game and what it meant to all of us.

“Derby wins mean a lot to people like Jamie and Stevie, but they mean a lot to the rest of the players as well, we all understand how important these derby games are to our fans.

“We were really unlucky with the own goal of Sami Hyypia, who I thought did well otherwise in the game.

“We just had to keep on going after that we only wanted one thing and that wasn’t to draw but to win the game.”

Saturday’s win was Liverpool’s sixth in their last eight visits to Everton, and means Rafael Benitez’s men have taken 13 out of a possible 15 points on their travels this season.

But Everton claimed they should have had the chance to take a point with a penalty of their own in the dying seconds when Joleon Lescott tussled with Jamie Carragher inside the area.

But Kuyt said: “At the end, I couldn’t see whether it was a penalty with Jamie, but Jamie said to me that it wasn’t, that football is a man’s game and that it wasn’t penalty.

“We deserved to win.”