A CRESTFALLEN David Moyes reflected on Everton’s Europa League exit last night and admitted: “We never got started.”

Everton suffered a crushing 3-0 defeat at the Estadio Jose Alvalade as they bowed out 4-2 on aggregate to Sporting Lisbon.

It was a desperately disappointing display on the back of three straight wins and Moyes was at a loss to explain how a side which outplayed Manchester United five days earlier could perform so poorly.

Second half goals from Miguel Veloso and Pedro Mendes overturned Everton’s narrow lead from the first leg and then Matias Fernandez late strike piled on the misery.

“We never got started in the game at all,” Moyes said.

“Credit to Sporting they were the better team tonight and they deserved to get through.

“I didn’t see that performance coming. We just didn’t get to the levels that we’ve been at in recent weeks. You have to give Sporting some credit for that because they worked very hard all night.”

Moyes insisted Everton weren’t guilty of sitting back and trying to protect their slender advantage.

However, he admitted the late error which led to Veloso halving the deficit in the closing stages of the first leg at Goodison was ultimately crucial.

“The idea was to get a goal,” he added.

“We wanted to try to finish the tie as soon as we could. But Sporting started well and we found it difficult.

“We knew the first 20 minutes here would be very difficult. But we got through that and regrouped.

“In the end the weight of pressure throughout told. We didn’t have enough of the ball to really make anything happen.

“We felt confident over the two legs, but maybe we made mistakes in the first game which gave an opportunity to Sporting tonight.

“You have to give them credit because they took their opportunities tonight and we have to accept that.”