Late spot-kick tempers Everton joy

Steven Pienaar admitted there was a "disappointed" home dressing room at Goodison Park after Everton conceded a late away goal in the 2-1 UEFA Europa League victory over Sporting Clube de Portugal.

Pienaar had opened the scoring for the Merseysiders with a fine 35th-minute strike and after Sylvain Distin doubled the advantage shortly after half-time, Everton looked set to take a commanding lead into next week's second leg in Lisbon.

But an 87th-minute penalty conceded by Distin and converted by Miguel Veloso has put a different complexion on Everton's return to the Portuguese capital, where they lost 5-0 to SL Benfica in October.

"The guys were disappointed," Pienaar told uefa.com. "After all the hard work we did, to concede a goal is tough. Our aim was not to concede and it's unfortunate that we have to go to Lisbon knowing they have a goal and it is going to be game on now."

Pienaar provided the highlight of the evening with his opening strike, pouncing on a Tim Cahill back-heel and driving the ball into the roof of the net for his third goal in this season's UEFA Europa League. "It was a nice counterattacking goal; Tim heard my shout and I was a bit lucky I touched it right," said the South African.

Midfielder Mikel Arteta reflected that Everton, kicking off at an unusually early time of 17.45, had started slowly, yet the Spaniard still felt they should have won by two goals or more. Before Pienaar's opener, Saha was foiled by Rui Patrício while in the second half substitute Ayegbeni Yakubu had a shot tipped away by the goalkeeper.

Arteta said: "We didn't play well enough in the first 25-30 minutes but we got a grip of the game after that so to concede a goal, and in the way we did, is not good. We missed a couple of good chances and could have scored three or four easily. We know it's going to be tough; they're going to put us under pressure over there."

Sporting are unbeaten at home in Europe this season but for all Everton's frustration, winger Landon Donovan underlined they still held the advantage. "It is disappointing to give up a goal at home," said the on-loan American. "If anything we were a little complacent, we had chances to get the third and if we'd got that the tie would be over. It is going to be difficult but we still won and are in control.

"We feel we are good enough to beat Sporting. Playing there is going to be a different story and that's why it is unfortunate to give up a goal but, like I said, we are still in control – they still have to score."