Everton U21 coach Alan Stubbs is full of praise for veteran fullback Tony Hibbert.

Stubbs hailed the influence of the long-serving defender, who continued his recovery from calf surgery by completing the full 90 minutes in the win at Middlesbrough this week.

"Hibbo is obviously a top pro and you only need to look at the way he went about it," Stubbs told evertonfc.com. "He's a great lad and always gives what he has got. He is always seven or eight out of 10.

"He is an example for the young lads to learn off, especially the lads at the back. I'm hoping they learnt a lot today [against Middlesbrough]; about his attitude and doing things at the right time.

"For me, defenders don't have to be the best players - they have to be the best defenders. Some of them don't understand that at times.

"If a ball needs kicking out, it gets kicked out. If the ball needs to be cleared first time, it gets cleared first time. It's not about being nice and pretty, it's about doing your job. Hibbo is the perfect example of that because he does everything well and nine times out of 10 he makes the right decisions.

"That should be a big learning curve for Tyias [Browning], John [Stones] and Luke [Garbutt] to play alongside someone like him."