Everton’s stand-in captain James Tarkowski praises Beto after he scored late equaliser against Fulham – as he defends the striker despite his struggles this season

Everton’s last-gasp equaliser against Fulham was created by two unsung heroes in veteran Ashley Young teeing up Beto — and the pair have been rewarded for hard work when some fans had voiced grumbles about them.

Young, 39, has put in a string of fine performances as Sean Dyche’s men have gone five unbeaten and the full back joked he was ’74 not out’ after some argued he was too old to be playing at this level.

Beto, meanwhile, scored his first league goal of the season and stand-in skipper James Tarkowski praised the Portuguese striker for his work-rate on the training ground in a period where minutes on the pitch have been hard to come by.

‘He works so hard, he is constantly outside working on every aspect of his game and he got his rewards,’ said Tarkowski, whose defensive partner Michael Keane is another unsung hero who played the last 10 minutes as a No 9 in Mick Lyons style as Everton went in search of a goal.

‘You can see how much it means to him, and I am really pleased for him because he works so hard and he hasn’t played much this year, so for him to get that moment is amazing.

Young, 39, has put in a string of fine performances as Everton have gone five unbeaten

Stand-in skipper James Tarkowski praised Beto for his work-rate on the training ground

‘For someone who works as hard as him, things are only going to work out for him at some point. It is tough when you are not playing; it is hard to stay match ready and match fit. He caused problems, running in behind, and he was in the box getting his head on things.

‘Every player, at every level, unless you are Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, suffers a bit of confidence issues at times.

‘I have been through it myself. When you are not playing, it is difficult; I am sure we all do, but he never shows it, he just works hard and sticks at it.’