EVERTON assistant manager Alan Irvine admitted that his side perhaps "got away with it" after sneaking a 1-0 win at the Premiership's bottom club Sunderland on Saturday.

Everton weathered some heavy pressure for long periods of the second half before eventually securing a stoppage-time victory.

And Irvine said: "Sunderland will no doubt be disappointed as they had a few chances.

"If I'd have been on the Sunderland bench then I'd be disappointed not to have got something out of the game.

"We told the play-ers that due to the amount of goals that we'd conceded recently that it was important to try and keep a clean sheet, to dig in and to show character."

Although Everton did not look unduly troubled in the first half, they were worryingly left on the back foot for a 20-minute period after the interval against a side whose record suggests they are the Premiership's worst ever.

Irvine said: "We looked comfortable in the first half but in the second half, Sunderland started putting us under pressure.

"One of the things we'd asked the play-ers to do was to stand up and put themselves on the line - both mentally and physically.

"We earned ourselves a bit of luck and perhaps it was our turn, but it was unfortunate on Sunderland."