Lampard: That was special

FRANK LAMPARD hailed a ‘special day’ as Goodison Park got an exciting taster of what his Everton side might look like.

Lampard was cheered by Toffees fans from the moment he watched his players warm up and they went on to thump Brentford 4-1 — a bigger win than any managed by his predecessor Rafa Benitez.

‘It’s a day I’ll never forget. I couldn’t help but feel the emotion,’ said Lampard, whose name was chanted loudly throughout the game.

‘The way the players bought into it was special. We wanted to play and make more passes, and we are an Everton team so we must tackle and be aggressive.

‘That is the real base and I was happy to see it. It made me proud and excited. Now I have to calm down because we are straight into a tough run of Premier League games and we need results.’

Lampard was particularly impressed with local youngster Anthony Gordon, whose tackle started a move which eventually led to Everton’s third goal.

‘He has great quality and loves this club, it oozes out of him,’ added the former Chelsea boss. ‘He is a young player who can go a long way.’

The only blip of Everton’s afternoon was a hamstring injury for defender Ben Godfrey. Lampard said: ‘He will have to be assessed in the next couple of days but it’s not good. He will be missing for a period of time.’