Tottenham's Toby Alderweireld was pleased to keep Romelu Lukaku quiet in Sunday's 1-1 draw at Everton but expressed frustration at taking just a point from Goodison Park.
Lukaku scored 31 goals in all competitions for the Toffees in 2015, and boasts 15 in the Premier League this term but he started the New Year with a blank, as Spurs' Belgian centre-back pairing of Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen restricted their international teammate to half chances.
Although Lukaku assisted Aaron Lennon's first half opener, Alderweireld feels Spurs dealt well with his compatriot, who had scored in his previous five home matches.
"We played well against him. He has scored in a lot of games here but we kept him quiet, we didn't give a lot away," Alderweireld told SpursTV. "I knew they were offensively very strong, but we were very solid at the back. We worked very hard -- everyone is exhausted because we ran a lot."
Lennon's strike against the club where he spent a decade was Everton's only shot in a first half dominated by the visitors and Alderweireld said Spurs, who twice struck woodwork before half-time, were aggrieved not to take all three points.
"Everybody is disappointed in the dressing room. If you play the first half like we played, you have to score more goals," he said. "We were a little bit unlucky -- we hit the bar and the post -- but we deserved to win and that's it.
"The first half they didn't come even close to Hugo [Lloris] so it's frustrating when that kind of ball goes in. You can't do much about it. The team showed character to keep on going and we did great to get it to 1-1."
Alderweireld played a crucial part in bringing Spurs back into the match, assisting Dele Alli's brilliant equaliser with a fine long pass -- just as he did in the 1-1 draw at West Bromwich Albion on Dec. 5.
The defender, 26, has now been directly involved in four league goals this season -- the same number as Wayne Rooney -- but he preferred to focus on Alli's part in the move.
"I know Dele is always looking for that space behind the defence," he said. "I have to be honest -- you have to be very lucky with the ball but it's a brilliant goal from him. It's very good for the team that he can make the run behind because that's difficult for the defence.
"It was good control on his chest, difficult because the man was behind him, and he finished clinically. All the credit goes to him."
Despite being disappointed with the result, Alderweireld feels Spurs will win plenty of matches if they continue to perform as they did on Merseyside.
"We have to keep going like this and we'll win a lot of games because we had more quality than them," he said.