Everton’s Italian defender Alessandro Pistone has criticised team mate James Beattie for his sending off against Chelsea.

Beattie was given his marching orders after just seven minutes of Everton’s classh with Chelsea on Saturday, after head-butting William Gallas.

Pistone was unhappy with Beattie, as he believes it effectively cost them any chance they had of beating the league leaders.

“It is hard with 11, so you can imagine what it was like after only seven minutes being down to 10,” lashed Pistone.

“It was a bad mistake because it was really an important game for us and we needed to keep our focus.

“You should be focused on that kind of game but Beattie has to understand it was a bad mistake.

“It was incredibly frustrating because we were expecting the game would be hard.

“I am still feeling down after that result. We did well as a team and were unlucky to lose 1-0.”

Beattie, who apologised to his team mates for the dismissal, will be fined by his new club for the incident.