Everton manager Roberto Martinez has praised his team's work ethic following their 1-1 draw with Watford at Vicarage Road on Saturday afternoon.

James McCarthy gave Everton the lead one minute into first-half stoppage time, but Jose Holebas equalised two minutes later with a header.

"We had to work really hard for it," BBC Sport quotes Martinez as saying. "It was a good game, two teams with a lot of energy playing on the front foot. Watford were at their very best today.

"It's a disappointment to concede from a dead-ball situation so close to half time and because of the nature of the goal, the deflection. There was another 45 minutes to play from then. We never allowed Watford to regain momentum. We were strong in the second half again and the amount of chances we created, we showed a little bit of rustiness from the last few games. Another day we would have scored the winning goal.

"We were able to penetrate into a Watford team who don't give you many opportunities at home. We had many good individual performances, Gareth Barry gave us a real fluency. At the back we dealt with the front two of Watford really well and we had a good focus."

Prior to kickoff, a banner reading 'Martinez out' was unfurled by Everton fans in the away end.