Everton defender John Stones admits the first red card of his career was a “big lesson”.
And after agonising over being sent off for the Blues against Young Boys in the Europa League last month, the 20-year-old is determined it will not happen again.
Stones hauled down Guillame Hoarau in front of goal during the first leg of Everton’s last 32 tie in Berne and was dismissed for a professional foul.
Hoarau blazed the penalty over the bar and the Blues still finished up comfortable 4-1 winners despite playing the last half an hour with 10 men.
Stones has labelled the challenge a “stupid mistake” and revealed he struggled to sleep that night as the incident was replayed in his head.
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But the young Blues centre-half is determined to learn from his error.
“It was a big lesson for me,” Stones said.
“For a centre-half, getting sent off, when you’re at the spine of the team…for me, it was a very stupid mistake and I felt like I’d let all my team-mates down.
“I take things to heart quite easily so I’ve got to learn from something like that – learn when to do certain things and when not to.
“I struggled to sleep because it was on my mind and I’ve watched it back a million times because I wanted to assess it and use it to my advantage going forward.
“You never want to get sent off and I hope it never happens to me again.”
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