Gary Cahill has stressed the importance of Wanderers becoming more consistent in the final months of the Premier League season.

Speaking after the full-time whistle at Goodison Park, the 23-year-old defender explained that he felt Wanderers could have built upon their victory over Tottenham Hotspur in their previous outing and was therefore frustrated with the way the afternoon turned out.

Cahill made no excuses for Wanderers performance, and from a personal perspective, he was forced to rue a choice he made in the build-up to Everton's second goal.

He said: "We got a great result last week but coming here, we had to keep pushing on. It always seems like we just get going but then we fall back into a relaxed mode.

"We can never put a string of results together. We never draw games - one thing's for sure, if people come and watch us, we'll either win or get beat. That's the way we have been this season.

"We fully expected Everton to be tired but it wasn't the case - it looked as if we'd played in extra time the other night. They were still buzzing from the result and took it into this game.

"I really fancied us before kick-off. We had a late setback before kick-off, but there are no excuses at all.

"The players need to respond themselves. I'll be taking a look at my own performance. As a defender, you can play really well and then make one bad decision and it'll cost you. That's what happened for me."

The Trotters have no fixture next weekend as the FA Cup schedule returns for the fifth round stage. The defender admitted that it does give the players an opportunity to recharge their batteries, but he would rather be back out playing as soon as possible to eradicate the memory Saturday's result.

"I'd rather be playing on Tuesday night to put it right," added Cahill.

"But I suppose the only positives you can take out of the game are the fact we have a rest this weekend and that we have got two good home games coming up, which we are more than capable of taking points from."