Sam Allardyce has acknowledged that an inability to create chances and score goals once again cost Everton, as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Watford.

The Toffees lost for a fifth time in eight Premier League matches in a quiet game settled by Troy Deeney's 80th-minute strike at Vicarage Road.

Everton struggled to get going all evening and managed just two shots on target, with neither Oumar Niasse nor replacement Cenk Tosun doing enough to find a way through.

Allardyce, whose side have netted 32 goals all campaign, admits that far more needs to be done in an attacking sense if points are to be put on the board,

"They had somebody who can finish and we didn't," he told BT Sport after the setback in Hertfordshire. "We ended up giving a goal away we should have avoided. It was a really good finish from Deeney though.

"In our final third we couldn't find anything. I was pleased with the overall performance, but in the final third we could have done a lot more.

"When you play away from home in these games they can be scrappy. At this time of year teams look over their shoulders to see where they are. Our final third play was the big disappointment - goals overall have been our problem this season.

"Our best chance fell to Michael Keane who had a header from three yards out - I don't know how that went wide of the post."

Everton head to Burnley for their next outing in a week's time, aiming to close the three-point gap on their seventh-placed opponents.