James Garner insists Everton’s season is not over despite their FA Cup exit.
Garner missed a penalty in Saturday’s third round shootout exit at home to Sunderland having earlier scored from the spot to send the tie to extra time.
David Moyes’ side have now exited both domestic cup competitions that will see their current silverware drought extending into a 32nd successive year.
But the Blues are still in contention for a European qualification position, something Garner believes should sharpen minds at Hill Dickinson Stadium
He said: “The season definitely isn’t over.
“The season is over for the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, but we still have got half a season left.
“You see how tight the league is; if you win one game, you are right up there again, so the season is definitely not over.
“We are definitely a better side than we were last year, and we have shown that we are just in a little bit of a bad patch at the moment.
“But hopefully next game or two we can get out of it.
“We have been missing a lot of players and missing some of our key players. The sooner we get them back, I think we will be better than worse.”
Everton fell behind midway through the first half, having started sluggishly against the Black Cats before entering the ascendancy after the interval.
And Garner admits he cannot pinpoint why the hosts were so off the pace.
“I couldn’t tell you,” admitted the midfielder.
“We were just very lethargic. We weren’t pressing; we had a lot of the ball but didn’t do too much with it.
“We know what the ground is like here, and if we get them onside as fast as we can with our pressing and intensity, nine times out of 10 it ends up being a good game for us and not them.
“That was what we failed to do in the first-half, but in the second-half we were much better.”
Garner is in the final six months of his current Everton contract although the club have an option to trigger an automatic 12-month extension this summer.
Asked whether there is any update on the situation, he replied: “No, pretty much the same as it was.”