Everton manager Sam Allardyce was delighted to see Seamus Coleman came through the full 90-minutes upon his return from injury as Everton beat Leicester 2-1 at Goodison Park.
It marked the Donegal man’s first time playing a senior competitive game since breaking his leg in a drawn World Cup qualifier for the Republic of Ireland against Wales back in March 2017.
Theo Walcott scored twice to give the Toffees a 2-1 victory over Leicester City.
Allardyce hailed Coleman as “an example to every player at this football club.”"I’m really pleased to take the three points," said the Everton manager. "I think there was a performance and a win.
"Now I have to mention the man that everybody loves here, which is Seamus Coleman.
"Not only what he did on the field today but the instant combination and work he did with Theo Walcott was a pleasure for them to see and for me to see.
"There was no intention to leave him on for 90 minutes, in our minds, but when you saw him do that 80-yard run at the end, you went 'wow!'
"Out for ten months, first game back, and then in the last two minutes of the game he runs 80 yards with the ball... It's a real shame the pass just went astray.
"I think his legs were so tired at the end of it he could hardly kick it."
"The performance wasn’t always comfortable but most of the time we were. There’s a new partnership flourishing that’s come together for the very first time – Seamus and Theo – everybody could see what an impact those two had today playing together.
“The performance was good and that partnership down the right was excellent. For him to finish 90 minutes, and in the 92nd minute run 80 yards with the ball was outstanding for me.
“He’s an example to every player at this football club. When you’ve been out for 10 months and you can perform with the sort of energy and quality that he did today was marvellous to see.”
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🎥 | Sam Allardyce gives his verdict on tonight's "massive win" against <a href="https://twitter.com/LCFC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LCFC</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EFCmatchday?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EFCmatchday</a> <a href="https://t.co/MwUM2V4dGk">pic.twitter.com/MwUM2V4dGk</a></p>— Everton (@Everton) <a href="https://twitter.com/Everton/status/958844346220072960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2018</a></blockquote>
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