Everton will reap benefits from undeserved pain - Martinez
(Reuters) - Everton manager Roberto Martinez has backed his team to learn from their bitter experience of continually throwing away points from winning positions this season.
The Merseyside club, who have dropped 14 points from leading positions, squandered a two-goal advantage for the third time this campaign in last weekend's 3-2 Premier League loss to West Ham United, condemning them to their eighth defeat.
"I just feel we need to take all the pain and experiences we've had throughout the season and now get our reward. You work really hard and when don't get the rewards you deserve, it's painful," Martinez told British media.
"The challenge is to prepare the team for a positive response in the next game. I'm looking at the character we've got in the squad. Our experiences will give us the chance to get good results."
Everton's only remaining hope of winning their first major trophy since 1995 is the FA Cup and they host Chelsea in the quarter-finals on Saturday.
(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)