Everton defender Conor Coady says Saturday's 0-0 draw with Liverpool was proof of the team's potential.

Coady wrote in a column for evertonfc.com: "It was a huge privilege to play in my first Merseyside derby and to experience that unbelievable atmosphere. It was Goodison at its absolute best.

"As a local lad, I know full well what this game means to Evertonians and I'm proud that, as a team, we can say we gave absolutely everything and put in a top-drawer performance against a world-class team.

"We've gone toe-to-toe with them and probably should have won the game.

"The match itself was end-to-end, exciting, tough, electric – many things you feel a Merseyside derby should be. It was a game full of chances and a fantastic game of football. I thought we were outstanding and, as a team, we stuck together and gave everything for 95 minutes.

"I'm devastated about my goal being ruled out for offside because I thought that's what we deserved. We were fantastic. We nullified them – they are going to have chances, of course – but we have a world-class goalkeeper and we did well as a defensive unit, too.

"It's horrible when you score a goal and it's ruled out later, I'm not going to lie. But you have to take it on the chin and we made sure we didn't drop too much from that and allow them to score a winner."