THEY say that to reach the top you must first hit the bottom.

Well on Saturday we hit the bottom of the Premier League and while I’m not suggesting for one moment that we’ll be crowned champions in a few weeks’ time, we know that this is as low down the table we can go.

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The only way is up, as an annoyingly catchy pop song once went.

I’m not sure I expected us to get anything at Everton, but it would have been nice.

The effort and determination was there but in the end our worrying lack of goals came to bite us squarely on the rear once again.

Everton, in the first half especially, looked superb and having survived the early scare of a penalty, I wasn’t too surprised they went in at the halfway stage a goal to the good.

Penalty first though and it was a superb save from Tom Heaton, although it was puzzling as to why Ross Barkley stepped up to take it with Leighton Baines on the field.

It was certainly a let-off for us but when Kevin Mirallas swept home the opener, I did fear it was going to be one of those days.

David Jones had an almost instant chance to drag us level but put his shot over the bar.

Things became even harder once Ashley Barnes was sent off for a second bookable offence just before the break.

Neither challenge, for me, was as bad as Mirallas’ tackle on Boyd at the start of the second half.

Danny Ings had a good chance to snatch a point towards the end but his header was typical of our form in front of goal at the minute.

The lack of goals is a bit of a worry and with Leicester City winning it makes next week’s game absolutely crucial.

We’ll be forced into a change with Barnes suspended and I do think a little bit of fresh impetus might be what we need.

We’re smack bang in the middle of the mix and my money is still on a great escape.