The famous phrase ‘pure Barclays’ is one that gets used a lot and thrown about but this game was the definition of it.
A game which if it was in the 90’s you wouldn’t bat an eyelid.
Gritty, scruffy and horrible throughout.
Both sides wanting to kill each other, metaphorically, as they got stuck in and left everything out there on the pitch.
A controversial refereeing decision and a mental fan protest.
It had everything.
And it had an incredible injury time winner to send Goodison Park into meltdown when they needed it most.
Every fan had told themselves that this game was the one that Everton had to win to give themselves any sort of chance of staying up.
You could tell they had after the scenes in the 99th minute, it was simply fantastic.
The reason we had got that far into stoppage time was because of one of the most peculiar things happened on a football pitch.
A protester for the organisation Just Stop Oil tied himself to the post cable ties around his neck and it took around ten minutes for people to release him using bolt cutters.
It was bizarre to say the least as football fans around the world couldn’t believe what they were seeing but in an even more bizarre sense it helped Everton as it meant 14 minutes were added on at the end.
Before the game got to stoppage time there was time for another ludicrously bad refereeing decision as Allan was sent off after VAR suggested Craig Pawson to go the monitor.
It was a blatant yellow card as he stopped Allan Saint-Maximum on a counter attack but it was definitely nothing more, however Pawson changed his mind as what all referees do when they go over to the screen.
Everton were down to ten men but it brought the crowd together as their anger propelled Goodison Park into its intimidating best.
The winner was all Iwobi.
He won the ball back in his own half and carried it effectively dribbling past Dan Burn like he wasn’t there before passing it on to Dominic Calvert-Lewin who held the ball up extremely well.
Calvert-Lewin laid it off so he could run onto it and hammer it home.
To win the game in that fashion in the most important game the club has had in a number of years was phenomenal.
Frank Lampard, who broke his hand in the celebrations, needs to build on this as there is still a long way to go and Everton’s run-in is very difficult on paper.
A crazy night at Goodison Park could very well be the catalyst for saving their season.
