Neville backs 'hungry' Beckford

Neville backs 'hungry' Beckford

Published Dec. 1, 2010 7:15 a.m. ET

The Toffees snapped up the striker on a free transfer over the summer following his exit from Leeds. The 26-year-old arrived on Merseyside with a reputation as a prolific marksman in the Football League. He has been unable to transfer that form onto the Premier League stage, though, with just one top-flight goal to his name so far. Unfortunately for Beckford, his troubles on the scoring front have seen him become a target for fan frustrations at Goodison Park. He can, however, still count on the support of club captain Neville, as he believes it is only a matter of time before the goals start to flow for the misfiring frontman. "The one thing I would say is that he's putting himself into that position to miss," Neville said of Beckford. "Out of all the strikers we've got, he's the one who is consistently getting chances. That tells me that he's brave, he has an eye for goal and he's hungry to score. "At the moment it's not quite going for him, but it works that way for strikers. "They go on runs where they don't score, but it's pleasing that he keeps making the runs. "He's a Premier League striker. If he wasn't creating the chances, or making the runs maybe you'd question that, but for me a striker is 99 per cent there if he's doing that. "The extra one per cent is maybe confidence and that will come when he starts scoring. Eventually he'll click and punish someone by banging in three or four. "All the lads are behind him. We all realise he's had a difficult start, but he has goalscoring ability and we need to back him up."

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