SOLLY MARCH insisted he did nothing wrong in a second-half flashpoint which infuriated Everton players and supporters.

The winger lit the blue touchpaper early in the second half when he continued playing after Toffees striker Richarlison collapsed in a heap deep in the Albion half.

March made progress down the right flank to win a corner before Bernard vented his fury at the Seagulls wideman and subsequently picked up a booking.

Richarlison climbed to his feet after treatment shortly after but March felt he had done nothing wrong after the ball had been worked to him from the other side of the pitch by his team-mates with the Brazilian down at the time.

March said: "It was nothing.

“He went down (Richarlison), I didn’t think he was injured so I carried on playing.

“That’s the rules, it wasn’t a head injury, so I thought we’d carry on playing and attack.

“We won a corner, so they obviously weren’t happy but’s that the rules and I was within my rights so I carried on.

"None of us (Albion) were telling me to kick it out, just them, so it was my right to do so. I can see why they were annoyed."

March admitted the incident served to add a bit more spark to an at times cagey contest.

He said: "It sort of got things going a bit.

“The crowd got behind us a bit, which was great, so we’re obviously delighted with the 1-0 win.”

March and his team-mates had been snapping into challenges from the start as they hunted in packs to close down the Toffees every time they were without the ball.

And the winger felt the formation - a 4-5-1 out of possession - looked good in the Boxing Day draw with Arsenal and again on Saturday.

March: “We set out how we wanted to do and I felt the game plan worked really well."

He added: “We did it from goalkicks as well. We don’t want teams to play it out short, we want to press them and then teams can panic.

“I think we did that really well, even against Arsenal, so I think it is the way to keep going. Keep pressing teams high because it seems to be working.

"It seemed to be quite open at times too. Nobody wanted to concede that first goal because they thought maybe there would only be one goal in it.

“In terms of the Arsenal game, I felt we finished that well and we took that into the whole of this one and I think we fully deserved the win.”