JAMES Ward-Prowse targeted a top-six finish despte a disappointing end to 2013 at Everton.

The Saints midfielder, recalled to the starting line-up after successive appearances as a substitute, saw Seamus Coleman go past to give Everton a first-half lead.

But he admitted that Saints should have secured a draw after equalising through Gaston Ramirez’s sensational strike.

He said: “We’re disappointed and angry with ourselves for letting a draw go after conceding so quickly after getting back in game with a good goal.

“I felt like second half was much stronger than the first and it was a great strike that got us back in the game.

“But the beauty of this time of year is that the next game is only around the corner. There will soon be a chance to rectify this result, starting against Chelsea.

“It’s a good place to push on from where we were last year, hopefully to a place in the top six. As long as we keep working hard in training I’m sure that’s a possibility.

“The manager told us afterwards to keep doing what we’re doing and the philosophy won’t change. The sky’s the limit for us.

“We’ve still got half the season to come and we’ll spend each day trying to keep improving.”

Ward-Prowse was very new to the Premier League when Saints lost the corresponding game 3-1 in September 2012.

“A year down the line from the last time we came here, I feel we’re a lot stronger in the way we approach games and the way we’re playing,” he added.

“The club’s taken massive strides in a short amount of time and that’s down to the players working hard to not only develop a good football team but a good football club.”

Meanwhile, Dejan Lovren believes Saints deserved a point from his first game since recovering from the virus that ruled him out of the 3-0 win at Cardiff.

“We definitely deserved more and at one point it looked like we would get a result, but we didn’t achieve the game we wanted,” he said.

“We just stopped after scoring. We played well, it was a really difficult game but we thought we had done enough and we can’t afford to do that.

“Now we need to keep our heads up for another tough game against Chelsea.”