NEWCASTLE United and Everton played out a thrilling Premier League tussle at Goodison Park that had everything to it. Committed challenges, a hostile atmosphere, chances galore, protests on the pitch, red cards and late drama. But for the second game in a row, it was the Magpies who were struck by a sickening late blow that cost them a point from the game.

With Everton fans knowing how much their team needed a win this evening, Goodison Park became a cauldron of noise that even the Coliseum would have been proud of. Every 50-50 challenge and run into the Newcastle half was met with a ground shaking roar from the Toffees faithful. Eddie Howe and his side had a job on their hands to cope with such a hostile atmosphere.

They were not to be deterred by the hostile environment as Bruno Guimaraes carved Everton open with a defence splitting pass that released Emile Krath down the right but his low cross was thwarted by Michael Keane. Moments later, Ryan Fraser whipped in a ball to Chris Wood from the left that would usually be meat and drink for the striker but he saw his header clutched by second choice keeper Asmir Begovic.

Referee Craig Pawson was a busy man in the first 20 minutes with Everton giving away a lot of fouls. Perhaps the buoyant crowd influencing the players in the wrong kind of way.

Newcastle continued to pose the bigger threat to Everton with Wood showing his aerial threat to come close again heading over from a corner. Fabian Schar then attempted to pull off his best impression of David Beckham by catching Begovic off his line with a free-kick from the halfway line but the Bosnian was alerted to the danger as he clutched the ball out the air.

The Magpies continued to monopolise possession and were dictating the flow of the game while under pressure Everton looked disjointed and were sloppy on the ball. Whenever the ball was lost by Newcastle, they were quick to eat the yards up and win it back. All that was missing from the first 30  minutes was a goal. However, Everton slowly grew into the game as the visitors let a bit of sloppy play creep in towards the end of the half.

They went in at the break feeling like they had the upper hand but needed a cutting edge to really pile the pressure onto Everton.

The only thing that was cutting at the beginning of the second half was a pair of bolt cutters. In a bizarre turn of events, a supporter ran onto the pitch and tied himself to the goalpost with cable ties around his neck as a matter of protest for Just Stop Oil. After a seven minute delay, club staff managed to free the protester with bolt cutters as a couple of other fans got involved in melees with police officers and stewards.

After the game got back underway, Everton got a bit more joy in the attacking third as Demarai Gray brought down a Seamus Coleman cross and rifled his shot wide of the post.

Miguel Almiron’s final contribution before being brought off was to burst down the right hand side and evade the challenge of Mason Holgate. At the byline, he cuts the ball back to Bruno Guimaraes who doesn’t get a clean connection on his shot as he hits it into the ground. Asmir Begovic palms the ball straight to Wood who was in an offside position.

The Toffees hit back with more balls into Newcastle’s box which were beginning to test them. Perhaps a sign of mental fatigue creeping in.

Krath went into the referee’s notebook for crashing into Richarilson on the edge of the box. Gordon couldn’t make the most of the free-kick as his shot deflected wide but minutes later, he jinked in from the left and forced Martin Dubravka into a brilliant save as he dived to his right and tipped over the bar.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin was thrown into the fold and was close to showing his fox in the box instincts as he was inches away from latching onto a Richarlison cross that would have been a certain goal. But from the resulting chance, Allan becoming the villain of the show.

He brought down substitute Allan St Maximin on the charge in what was a cynical foul but after the referee consulted VAR, the decision was that he committed serious foul play and he was sent for his marching orders with five minutes plus stoppage time to go.

The fourth official held up an additional fourteen minutes of additional time. We were in for a pulsating finish.

Gordon was at the heart of another Everton attack and took a tumble into the box from Guimaraes challenge but neither referee or VAR were satisfied that it was a penalty. It added a bit more controversy to the evening.

With a man advantage, Newcastle threw the kitchen sink at the hosts for the remainder of the game as numbers surged forward. But for the second game in a row, Newcastle would be struck with another late sickening goal.

Everton charged at Newcastle on the counter attack. Alex Iwobi side stepped Dan Burn who had come to make the challenge and threaded the ball through for Calvert-Lewin. The striker had the poise and the awareness to thread the ball back the way of the Nigerian who drove on and struck the ball passed Dubravka and into the back of the net in the ninth minute of stoppage time. The roof blew off Goodison Park as bodies mobbed Frank Lampard in the Toffees technical area.

In the end, the night belonged to the hosts who desperately needed that win. For Eddie Howe’s men, it’s back to back defeats heading into the international break and now they could just be looking back over their shoulder again.