Everton attacker Steven Naismith defended Kevin Mirallas after their stalemate with West Bromwich Albion.

Naismith defended Mirallas after the winger controversially missed a penalty in the goalless draw.

Mirallas grabbed the ball and took the kick after the briefest of discussions with regular taker Leighton Baines, who had scored 15 of his 16 Premier League spot-kicks.

He shot wide and his withdrawal at the interval merely posed more questions as speculation continues to link the Belgium international, who has 18 months remaining on his contract, with a move away.

"We've won the penalty and the ball's fallen to Kev and Kev has felt confident, he showed in the West Ham (FA Cup shoot-out) he was very confident then and he slotted his penalty away," he told Sky Sports 1.

"He's in form and he's playing well and he wanted to step up and take it and unfortunately he's missed.

"We should have had enough in the 90 minutes to win rather than relying on the penalty taker."

He added: "Bainesy had a very good record and then he missed at Man United which was disappointing for him.

"We've got some fantastic players, Kev's dead ball play is fantastic so he was obviously confident from how he played at West Ham and the way he started this game.

"He fancied it and he stepped up to take it, he's got to show that he's man enough to step up and take it and he did."

On the half-time exit, Naismith denied any row, and continued: "I think Kev has come off with an injury more than anything else. He never came in the changing room so I'm sure it was an injury."