SAINTS midfielder Chris Marsden has hit back at those who criticised the club's performance in the goalless stalemate at Everton last Sunday.

Marsden, writing in his exclusive Daily Echo column today, called the criticism "very undue."

He writes: "At the end of the day Goodison Park is a very hard place to go and they are a team that finished above us last year.

"Somebody rightly said that we normally get beat at Goodison so a point would be a good result. But with the disappointment that seemed to surround us after not winning, maybe people's expectations are a little high.

"Obviously after last season they are higher, and rightly so, but people do need to be realistic.

"I don't want to sound like I'm being a bit of a pessimist or negative, I'm just saying you need to look at the reality of the situation."

Read Life on Mars by Chris Marsden on page 46 of today's paper and every Thursday in the Daily Echo.