Everton 1 Newcastle 0: Toffees find a way for huge result

In one of the strangest football games seen in recent times Everton finally got the breakthrough very late on and beat Newcastle United for three crucial points.

Despite a bizarre half-time protest from someone tying himself to the goalpost and another questionable referee performance, Everton drew on every reserve and a crowd that kept pushing them on to secure a win that just might turn this season around.

Obviously, there is still a long way to go and the Blues’ still probably need another four wins from somewhere but after so much dross recently, it was a very welcome and long overdue.

I wrote in my match preview that last night’s match was a must-win and they found a way to do it, eventually, despite almost everything going against them.

I’ve been very critical of these players over the last few weeks and months and justifiyably so too and I felt like they had thrown in the towel last weekend. But, maybe I’m wrong and it’s only fair to give them credit for the overall performance last night.

Certainly, it wasn’t pretty to watch and especially in the first half when the Magpies were on top and looked a more confident and self-assured side than the home team.

That’s not surprising given they have been on the sort of run recently that keeps a team up. Their run started with that 3-1 victory over Everton last month. Now, the Toffees’ must use this win in the return fixture to replicate that sort of spell themselves.

If they are to do so it looks as though they will do so with literally everything against them. Last night again, the Blues’ got no change from yet another referee who made virtually every decision against them.

In particular, his decision to send off Allan galvanised Everton in the final quarter of the game. This came after he decided to reverse his original decision, which was to give the Brazilian a yellow card.

The midfield dynamo had a superb match and while his challenge probably merited a card, it wasn’t a sending off. There’s always a downside for this club and losing Allan for three matches could really hurt the team again.

None of this though surprises Evertonians and this season has been an utter joke as far as officials decisions go with the Southampton and Manchester City matches the most glaring recent examples.

In the build up to the game Frank Lampard revealed Jordan Pickford was unavailable and so Asmir Begovic started in goal. In some ways this might have helped given his constant banter with the Newcastle fans which has previously appeared to affect his concentration and performances.

Interestingly, Lampard also went back to a defence that resembled a little bit the sort of back four Carlo Ancelotti adopted when Everton needed to turn around some horrible form and stop conceding sloppy goals in the middle of last season.

In particular, Ben Godfrey returned at left-back where he excelled so often last season and had a excellent match. In truth, although there were some wobbly moments all four of this much-criticised defence were solid. This surely has to be the template going forward for the rest of the campaign.

Apart from the win obviously, the other really pleasing aspect was the fact they managed to secure a clean sheet as well, something we haven’t seen in the Premier League (apart from beating Leeds) since the defeat of Norwich way back in September.

With the interruptions to the match and Allan’s sending off the referee added loads of time at the end of ninety minutes and as the minutes ticked away. It appeared that a point would be the best we could hope for until a chance came and Alex Iwobi after a good run and neat one-two with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, kept his head and slotted home.

It is only one game and we’ve seen strong efforts at Goodison Park before, most recently that Leeds win, that were followed up by terrible performances away from home. And, I still feel that to survive the Blues’ must find a way to pick up a points on their travels.

Next, the Toffees’ have the diversion of an FA Cup quarter-final at Crystal Palace. After that comes another break and then two really testing matches away to West Ham United and then a huge six-pointer at Burnley.