Chelsea use every trick in the book, says Roberto Martinez

Everton manager Roberto Martinez said Chelsea's ability to "use every trick in the book" contributed to his side's 1-0 defeat by the league leaders.

Martinez felt the stoppage-time free-kick that led to John Terry's winner at Stamford Bridge was "very soft".

The Spaniard added: "If you watch the replay, it's not a free-kick at all. That happened with other incidents.

"I don't blame the referee at all. It's an incredible knowhow, using every trick in the book."

The Toffees had restricted their hosts to half-chances until Frank Lampard's excellent inswinging set-piece led to Terry's goal.

The win means Chelsea have not lost in 74 home league games under Jose Mourinho, while Everton are seventh, eight points adrift of Liverpool in fourth.

Martinez said: "We defended really well but John Terry was brave and they scored. Overall I thought we were the better side.

"It was a very unfair result not to get anything from the game after the performance that we had.

"We need to make sure that when we play well and when we deserve to get a positive result, we do that."

Despite the defeat, the former Wigan manager insisted he was "excited" about Everton's future.

He added: "Today was a big, big moment to understand where we are as a team.

"The scoreline is what matters in the short term, and we are hurt and we are not going to hide it. But the performance is exactly what we needed."

Martinez said his side had been "magnificent" in the first half and showed they could play "eye to eye with the league leaders".

He added: "The only disappointment was that we could not hit the back of the net when we had a couple of good moments of control in the game.

"In the second half, you would expect Chelsea to have a bit of momentum. Tim Howard had a spell where he had to be at his best. But from that point on I could not see Chelsea scoring from open play."