Half time: Toffees 0 Magpies 0

(83 mins) Allan Saint-Maximin's attempt at counter attacking from his own area was halted illegally by a two-footed lunge from Allan. A number of visiting players protested to Pawson at the ferocity of the challenge, with Martin Dubravka noticeably racing from his goal to complain.

Allan gratefully accepted the yellow card displayed by Craig Pawson, who was in a prime location to see and assess the incident for himself. Some delay in restarting the game saw Schar and Allan get involved before the checking VAR notice appeared - followed by Pawson's invitation to check the footage on the pitchside screen situated in front of home fans in the Bullens.

As is almost always the case in these situations, the decision was amended and the booking upgraded to a dismissal. Once the red card had been shown and before the player had left the field, the Goodison big screen showed a replay of the incident, prompting further howls of abuse from the crowd and more discontent from Allan's colleagues.

90+9 mins After a messy passage of play when each side won and lost possession of the ball, Joelinton came out of defence and played a forward pass intending for Allan Saint-Maximin on the centre spot. He lost out to Seamus Coleman, who found Alex Iwobi to his immediate right; pushing on wrong-footing Dan Burn as he tried to block him.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin lay ahead on the edge of the United box and as he took possession, Fabian Schar backed away. The Everton substitute checked back with his first touch and back-flicked it into the path of Iwobi with his second. Iwobi swept a low left-footed effort beyond Martin Dubraka's left hand from around nine yards. The move was completely out of keeping with anything else that Everton else created in the entire game. 0-1

Full time: Toffees 1 Magpies 0

Eddie Howe said:

"We controlled the game. The only thing that was missing in the first half was a goal, and being really clinical in the final third, but that was missing for the entire game for us today.

"I thought we got into some good positions but the normal rhythm wasn't there, for whatever reason. The second half was a big disappointment.

"The red card gave us a big advantage and we didn't capitalise on that. I thought tactically, we didn't deliver the plan we should have done at that moment.

"The game was there for us but we made some poor decisions with the ball by our high standards.

"You're always liable to counter-attacks and moments that can still cost you the game. You have to be very alert and we weren't. We made a bad mistake for the goal and it cost us.

"It is very disappointing. I don't know why that second half was lacking in that bit of quality. It was our game to win and we didn't grab that opportunity.

"I don't think it's my formations or cleverness that will keep us up. It's part of the bigger picture, but it's people and the players that will keep us up, and the fans when we get together.

"I thought the start of the game was a bit special. I know I'm new to this, an evening game at Goodison, but you could feel the crowd. Maybe they had a couple of pints of Guinness for St Patrick's Day. Fair play, we need that. We need them behind us.

"If we get out of this it's together, the fans and the players played their part."

On the protestor:

"I've never seen anything like that.

At first, I didn't realise what was happening to start with. It was a big delay. I'm not using it as an excuse, but I don't know if that affected us, because certainly we weren't the same team in the second half."

Frank Lampard (who reportedly broke his hand celebrating the goal) said:

"It was a big night for us and nothing is done - we've got 11 games to go now - but I think we were waiting for this moment: a night of togetherness, a night of spirit, a night of fight against a very good team.

"We got what we deserved, that's absolutely clear in the end, against some odds. That exploded around the whole stadium and in the technical area when we scored.

"They're a good team. They can bring on players who can affect the game and they are in good form.

"A man down, it was, 'Can we hang on? At that point you would take a point. 'Can we get one more chance if we can get up the pitch and then deliver?'

"The lads did that and fair play to the whole place because belief stayed, fans rose, players rose on the pitch, and we deserved the win."

On the dismissal:

"It's not a red card. Alan Shearer, Mr Newcastle himself, just said so and the frustrating thing for us is we had the most blatant one of the season against Man City.

"The referee gets it wrong, we get the apology, this time the referee sees it, he gives a yellow card. Did he seriously endanger the player by kicking him on the foot?

"We now lose Allan for three games. The system is not working because of decisions like tonight. VAR has gone wrong for us twice now."