Everton captain Phil Neville enjoyed his battle with Tottenham flyer Gareth Bale on Saturday.

Neville won great praise for keeping Bale quiet after the 1-1 draw.

"Gareth's probably the most in-from left winger in the world at the moment, certainly the most talked about, and I was so lucky that I had Seamus Coleman in front of me," said Neville. "He did a great job and at times I had to use my experience. Bale has probably outpaced every full-back in the league and with Leighton Baines on the other wing against Aaron Lennon, you probably won't find two faster wingers anywhere.

"So we had our work cut out on Saturday but I thoroughly enjoyed the battle and it is what I came into football for, to play against the best players and at the moment Gareth Bale is one of the best players.

"I was pleased with the way it went, you have got to make sure Seamus and the midfielders were in the right positions and then just use your experience.

"At times I had to be aggressive with Bale and at times drop off. I couldn't give him space to open his legs because once he does that then no full-back in the world is going to catch him. I just needed to make sure I was never in that situation.

"It was a hard earned point and we knew we were going to have to defend well. With a little bit more quality on the counter attack we could've nicked it. When you go a goal up you hope to keep possession for 20 minutes and see out the first half. If we had gone in at half-time 1-0 up then I'm sure we would've won the game but we conceded a soft goal."